Kingdom Hearts 5: The Rising Darkness
by Kristen Verne
Summary: 21 years since Xehanort's defeat, 1 year since he was brought back to life and defeated again... The guardians of light and their children moved on with their lives, but the return of evil threatens the life of one and nearly pulls many others apart. One can only cling to what little hope exists. Rated T for violence.
1. Prologue

**It has arrived...**

 **Kingdom Hearts © to Disney and Square Enix!**

 **Sasuke and Hinata © to Yamichaos27!**

 **All other OCs © to me!**

 **Kingdom Hearts 5**

 _ **The Rising Darkness**_

* * *

 **Prologue**

* * *

" _It doesn't matter. And it's not even the old man. It's all 'his' doing._ "(1)

" _Who wants me alive? Xehanort?_ " … " _Well, yes and no. It's complicated…_ "

" _I have grown bored with you. Do your job or die. I have seen and found a better vessel than you. Do what I asked and I will free you._ "

" _However, if this is your choice, understand that I will try and convince you to let me in, and you may find my methods… unconventional._ " … " _Goodbye Patria. We shall see each other again, very soon…_ "

" _I will torment you in life and in your dreams. Until you submit to me, I will torment your dreams. You may sleep, but you will never be restful. I will drive your sanity from you until your will to fight back is no more._ "

" _I warned you…_ "

" _ **Now, we can begin…**_ "

* * *

Across the land of Kingdom Hearts, Oukoku, Sora's ancestor, guardian of Kingdom Hearts, walked across the silver grass. "Something is wrong…"

" _Are you just realizing this?_ " A female figure with white hair, white eyes, and a white dress appeared beside him.

"You haven't used this form in quite a long time… a few thousand years I think."(2)

She rolled her eyes. " _Oukoku, this is no time for jokes. I know you can sense what's coming._ "

"Yeah," the man nodded. "What should we do?"

" _We watch, and we wait_."

Oukoku closed his eyes. The sense of darkness and foreboding on his mind. The sense was so strong, and he could not locate where it came from, but he could feel a lot of it around his descendant: Patria.

"I have to do something before everything goes wrong…"

* * *

 **Ladies and Gentlemen!**

 **Enjoy the show!**

 **Please Review!**

* * *

 _If you are interested in following my other writings (fanfictions, short stories, and upcoming novel) and/or my art, you can look for me on Deviantart (KristenKHVerne), Tumblr (Kristen Verne), Facebook (Kristen Verne), Instagram (Kristen Verne), or Twitter (Kristen Verne)._

* * *

Footnotes

(1) These are all quotes from KH4.

(2) This is a physical form that Kingdom Hearts takes; it was introduced in the Keyblade War story that I just finished.

* * *

 _VA:_

 _Oukoku Gatsu- Alex Organ (Doranbolt/Mest Gryder, Shota Aizawa, Kaku, Norway)_

 _Kingdom Hearts- Tabitha Ray (Imitatia/Michelle Lobster, Hotaru Shidare, Teru Hayama)_

* * *

 **Introduction**

Hi everyone, I want to welcome you to this story. Now, if you've never read my stories before, you probably won't know what this is.

At the end of every chapter, I write a little segment that is only here for one purpose, to encourage all of you.

I am a Christian and these little "devos" will be written with Bible verses and from a Christian standpoint. However, I am here to show love to everyone who reads my stories, no matter their age, religion, race, etc..

If you do not care to read these devos, then you have every right to skip right over them, but they are here if you want to be encouraged and shown the love of God.

And if you have any complaints or questions, you can PM me. If you leave a rude review, just know that it will be removed.

I love each and every one of you and I wish you the best!

God bless all of you!


	2. Chapter 1: Lazy Afternoons

**Here we go!**

 **Well, this is actually a really peaceful chapter, so enjoy.**

 **EDIT***

 **Totally forgot to do this:**

 **Thank you YamiChaos27, moonrose221, BrianHunterAlpha, cyberman prime, Spiderfan626, bowser3000000, Chirithy564, and Nintendoman01 for following and/or favoriting this story!**

 **Kingdom Hearts © to Disney and Square Enix!**

 **Raelyn © to TerraKH!**

 **Viktor © to Blackheart the Dark Lord!**

 **Adam © to Yamichaos27!**

 **Other OCs © to me!**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Lazy Afternoons**

* * *

Roxas rubbed his eyes as he sat at his desk. He didn't look up as his wife came up behind him, and kissed his cheek. "Hey, Xi."

"Paying the bills?"

"Yep." Roxas sealed an envelope and turned around. "How are the kids?"

Xion smiled. "Most of them went Viktor to the beach. I think only Eve and Raelyn are still here." She looked out the window at the old mansion grounds, now converted into an area safe for children to play in. "It's hard to believe that we're living our dream, giving homes to young Nobodies who have nowhere to go."(1)

"Yeah," Roxas stood up, wrapping his arms around his wife. "I am happy that our dream came true and we can be hope for these beautiful kids. Speaking of kids, where is ours?"

"With Max."

"Of course."

The couple went downstairs. The old mansion looked nothing like it did years before. Now it was clean and covered with toys. One room lay open and a teenage boy sat reading; he looked up, giving the couple the barest hint of a smile. "Hey. If you're looking for Eve, she's downstairs being a weirdo, as usual. Oh, and Adam is with her."

"Thanks, Raelyn, but I thought Adam went with the others."

"He did," Raelyn leaned back on his bed, continuing to read. "He came back to hang out with Eve though."

It was clear that the boy had no more interest in talking with them, so the couple went downstairs. A green-haired boy sat at a table with a little girl, who just drew on a piece of paper while talking to herself. "There's a land called Lillipoppi, and living there is lillipop. I'll go there soon with Mister Bubbles… Who watches over sleeping angels? I do, I do..."(2)

Roxas looked down at her drawing and saw the same thing she always drew, a giant creature with a drill arm and a bulbous head. "Eve, sweetie, why don't you play with Adam?"

"Yeah," the boy smiled, "Let's go play!"

"Let's go find the sleeping angels!" Eve slid out of her chair and skipped off with Adam in tow.

Xion shook her head. "What a strange child."

"No kidding."

Across Twilight Town, Roxas and Xion's son, Yuyake, sat on Sunset Hill. He looked down at the girl who leaned against him. "Hey, Max…"

"Hmm?" Maxine Reach looked up at him, smiling.

"After we graduate, we should get married here, on this hill."

"Yeah." The girl giggled. "That's if my dad doesn't kill you first."

Yuyake laughed before kissing her cheek, his raven hair falling over his eyes slightly. "That's true, and I'm absolutely terrified of your dad, but my love for you is stronger than my fear of him."

"That was super corny!"

They both laughed before sharing a deep kiss.

* * *

Terra nodded as the two young Keybearers in front of him clashed. "Good. Justin, watch your footing. Xally, don't be reckless."

"Yes, sir!" The young brown-haired boy leapt back, holding one Keyblade in his hand and levitating the other using the Force(3).

"Gotcha!" The girl twirled her double-sided Keyblade, blowing her short orange hair back. The two clashed again and again.

Terra smiled as his wife came into the room, carrying their youngest child. "Aqua, how's the little one?"

"Ignis is doing wonderfully." She grinned. "He managed to finally cast Cure by himself, as well as Pearl."

"Daddy! I'm gonna be just like you one day!" The four-year-old cheered, his blue eyes sparkling with admiration for his father.

Both parents smiled before Terra turned to their sparing students. "Ok, that's enough for now! Let's get some lunch, kids."

"Alright!" The two dismissed their Keyblades and jogged over. "What are we having?"

"I don't care," Justin shrugged, "As long as Xally isn't cooking(4)."

"Hey!"

"Your cooking sucks and you know it!"

"Jerkwad!"

Aqua held up a hand. "That's enough you two. And anyway, how does pizza sound for lunch?"

"Awesome!"

"Yeah!"

Both parents smiled as the two ran off to the kitchen; even little Ignis squirmed in his mother's arms to be let down so he could follow suit. She put him down and the little boy sprinted after his older siblings.

"We better get in there before a riot starts."

"Yeah, or Xally starts trying to make pizza herself." They both laughed and went after the kids.

* * *

Glacies, the eldest child of Terra and Aqua, stood on the balcony of her home in Hazy Hamlet(5). For almost a year she had served as this world's guardian, helping it change from a tyrannical place of slavery and suffering to a beautiful world of joy and peace.

She breathed in the fresh air, smelling the sweetness and moisture in the breeze. It would snow tonight. Looking down, she could see Terrance, her gardener, preparing the plants for the freeze; he was an elf from Tech Town, brought to this world as a slave. After freedom, he decided to stay and help rebuild the world.

He looked up a wide smile crossing his blue-skinned features as he waved at the girl. "Glace, come down here! I want to show you something!"

"Be right there!" The girl brushed a few strands of brown and blue hair from her face as she went downstairs.

She felt honored that the government allocated her this nice house and even hired some people to assist her as servants, but she made certain they were paid well and treated fairly, not wanting to hurt anyone. Terrance was one of those servants, but he volunteered for his position.

Stepping out the back door, Glacies smiled at her friend who waved her over. "Look at this." He pointed down into the strawberry patch at his feet.

Peering through the branches, the two could see a small family of foxes hidden amongst the leaves. "Oh, they're beautiful."

"They've lived here for some time, and since they haven't harmed the plants, I let them stay." Terrance smiled. "By the way, would you care to join me for supper tonight?"

"You know, if my father finds out that you're courting me, he is going to be down here in minutes to terrify you."

The elf laughed. "Oh, I'm aware."

"But yes, I would love to join you for supper." She took his hand in her own as they both smiled.

"I look forward to it."

"As do it."

* * *

"This is really boring…" Ryô sat in the castle of Tech Town(6) with his parents. Now that they ruled this world, he had to study to be king, and it was not very interesting stuff to learn.

Ven smiled at his son's groaning. "Well, it's stuff you have to learn if you're going to be king someday. I remember learning it when I was your age."

Naminé giggled, laying her hands on her husband's shoulders. "Ven, remember, we have to go into the city, to that new school dedication."

"Yeah, I remember. Oh, the random duties of kingship." Ventus stood up, adjusting the cloak around his shoulders. "Ry, why don't you go hang out with Michael and Gabriel(7)? I saw them sparing in the courtyard, and I'm certain they'd love you to join them."

His son grinned. "Yeah! Anything's better than learning heraldry!"

As the boy ran out of the room, his mother called after him. "But remember, you have ballroom dancing lessons this afternoon."

"I won't forget!" The blond boy flew down the stairs to where his bodyguards sparred. "Gabe! Mike! Can I join you?"

"Of course, your Highness!" The two half-elf boys stepped aside, allowing their prince and charge to summon his Keyblade. Gabriel readied his longsword and Michael his morning star.

"Ready? Go!" The three leaped at one another, laughing as their weapons clashed.

* * *

Vanitas yawned as he made his way across the streets of Traverse Town. As much as he hated his job, it was a job nonetheless. But seriously, why was the only job available for him a job as a janitor? Normally, such things would be far beneath him, but he had a family to care for, so he couldn't be picky.

As he approached his house, he could see his wife Alya in the doorway. She'd taken to sewing clothes to earn a little extra money, and it was going well. She now stood handing a customer a brand new dress as the woman handed her a small bag of munny.

Alya grinned as she saw her husband. "Vanitas! I made another sale!"

"That's wonderful!" The two kissed and went inside. The man's expression fell the moment he saw the living room; Floods and Scrappers were everywhere. "Get out! You know you're not supposed to be in here in these numbers, and you're not supposed to get on the furniture!" The Unversed quickly vanished, all but one Flood wearing a collar.

"Oh, Akame was lonely," Alya picked him up, "So I said he could have some of the others come, but they did get a little out of hand."

Vanitas sighed. "I should've known."

The door behind them opened. "Papa!" Vanitas turned as his daughter leapt into his arms, her black wavy hair bouncing around her golden eyes that matched his own. "Guess what! Guess what!"

"What?"

"I got accepted into the school's photography club!"

Her parents smiled. "That's wonderful, Vanette!"

"Look!" She held up a small bag. "They gave me a camera too! I'm supposed to take ten photos this weekend of something! I'm gonna take photos of the Unversed!"

Vanitas smiled warmly. "Good for you, Nettie. I know the Unversed love attention." His daughter giggled and ran off to do her homework with Akame following behind. "She's growing up so fast."

"I know…" Alya leaned against her husband. "And she is so happy."

"Yeah, we all are."

The couple looked at each other, smiling before they kissed. For the first time since their marriage, they had a truly peaceful life, and they were truly happy. They loved their home, and they loved their life.

* * *

Hisako looked over at her roommate. "Going home again?"

"Yeah," Blaze grinned. "Mom and Dad asked me to." The daughter of Lea and Sera packed up a large suitcase. "Mom just wants to make sure I'm alright every once in a while."

"Yeah, but that means you have to miss out on the Mutant History test!"

"Oh, the horror!" The redhead grinned. "I'm sure I'll survive missing one of Beast's horribly hard tests." She hugged the other girl. "See you soon!"

"Bye!"

Blaze stepped into the hallway, looking around at the beautiful building that was the Xavier mansion. Since she, like her mother, had the x-gene, she spent most of her time here, studying with Professor Xavier, Logan, Scott, and the others. It was a fun life, living among those with powers, learning to use her abilities properly.

"Leaving already?"

"I'm sure you already know the answer, Professor." She turned grinning at the bald man in the wheelchair.

Professor Xavier smiled. "Yes, I do. Take care on your way home."

"I will!" The girl ran out of the mansion, waving at everyone as they went past. "Bye everyone!"

"Bye Blaze!"

"Bye Fira!"

The girl gave one final wave before taking her star shard out of her bag. "Later everyone!" She vanished in a brilliant flash of light, leaving the world of Mutant Manor behind.

* * *

Lea groaned, stretching his limbs. "I hate long nights at the office."

"Oh, you're fine." Sera took her husband's arm. "You've stayed up later than that before."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I have to like it."

The couple smiled, but it ended when Lea saw a familiar blonde woman walking their way. "Oh boy… Hey, Arlene(8). How are you?"

"Oh, fine, fine… except for the fact that your son is driving me nuts!" The woman hissed. "I know Railaum(9) doesn't mind, but I do. He needs to stop coming around our home to see Rose!"

"I'll talk to him…"

"Good." The woman turned on her heel and stormed off.

Sera shook her head. "She has never mellowed out like her husband."

"Yeah," Lea sighed. "Let's go find our son."

"Yes."

It did not take long to find the boy sitting on a ledge with Ivan Leonheart and Vladimir Fair(10), eating sea salt ice cream. "Brim!"

"Yeah?" Brimstone looked up. "What is it? What did I do?"

Sera smiled at their eldest. "Son, Mrs. Dareka complained about you going around their house to see Rose. She wants you to stop."

"Fine… I'll stop." The boy groaned. "I don't know why she even complained. I haven't been by in weeks. I was only there today because I was walking past to meet these two."

Vladimir nodded. "He's right. We're waiting on Blaze to get back."

"Yeah," Ivan added. "We met right down the street from the Dareka house."

"Well, you know how Arlene is, so don't give her a reason to freak out again." Lea huffed. "I had enough trouble dealing with her in the Organization, and I would rather not deal with her now."

"Got it, Dad."

* * *

Riku adjusted his glasses as he stepped out of the library onto the walkway near the gardens. After being named king of Disney Town, he spent more time in the library than anywhere else. It was a nice, quiet place to work.

Mickey sat in the gardens watching Donald and Goofy work with their apprentices. Now that the former king stepped down, his magician and captain were ready for their retirement, but they had to have suitable replacements. So, Goofy was training his son, Max, to take over for him, and Donald was training a friend of the family, Webby Vanderquack, to take his place.

"Darling," a woman with curly black hair and chocolate brown skin came over, taking his arm. "You need to relax more. I know you have responsibilities as king, but you are stressing yourself out."

The man smiled. "I know, Hara. I'm actually taking the rest of the day to spend with the family… if we can find Hikari that is."

"I'm almost certain she went off with P.J. and Goslyn."

"Should've known. And Kuro is with Chip and Dale?"

"Yep," Hara smiled. "He's taken quite a shine to those chipmunks. And they've taken him under their wings… well, as much as they can. He's only two after all." She kissed her husband's cheek. "I'll go get him while you find Kari. We'll meet you at the square."

"Sounds good." Riku walked out towards the front gates. He went out, looking over the town. It still felt unreal… he was king of all this.

It did not take him long to find his adopted daughter. He spotted the blonde and pink hair halfway down the street from him. The girl stood beside Pete Jr. and Goslyn Mallard, all decked out in rollerblades, pads, and helmets. The three held hockey sticks in their hands while facing off against Huey, Dewey, and Louie.

"You losers are going down!" Goslyn taunted.

Louie grinned. "You wish!"

As Riku approached, he saw Goslyn's adopted father nearby. "Drake, hello."

"Oh," the duck blinked. "Hello, your Majesty. Come to watch the kids play?"

"Actually, I came to get Kari, but I'll let her play one round." He sat beside the duck. "You and Launchpad have been busy, I hear."

"Uhh, I-I don't know what you're talking about."

The king gave Drake a deadpan stare. "I'm not an idiot Drake, or should I say Darkwing Duck."

"Shh!" the duck hushed him. "Don't say it so loud."

Riku rolled his eyes, leaning back to watch his daughter and friends play.

Hikari looked up at her dad, smiling. "Guys, I'll play one match, but then I gotta go."

"Aw!"

"Fine…"

The princess giggled, readying her hockey stick. "Goslyn, PJ, let's get them!"

"Yeah!"

* * *

"Patria," Sora rubbed his forehead, "I told you to dress nicely. A crop top and short-shorts are not 'nice'. This is a semi-formal event, so please dress appropriately."

"I don't see what the big deal is. We're going to be in the dark mostly." The girl flipped her red hair back behind her ear.

Kairi handed her husband his nice jacket. "Tria, this is something your brother has been dreaming of for years. We need to look nice when we go support him."

"Fine…" The girl stomped upstairs and changed clothes.

As she fixed her hair in the mirror, a dark voice entered her mind. " _What a perfect show for you, and how ironic that your brother is playing the villain when that is your role in real life._ "

"Shut. Up." Patria clenched her fists. The darkness inside her laughed but said no more. The girl went downstairs; together, she and her parents walked across town to the theatre.

Tonight they would see "The Phantom of the Opera" starring Pith Kumo as the Phantom.

As Sora and Kairi found their seats, Patria snuck to the back. A burly teenager guarded the door to the backstage. He glared at her. "Get lost, Kumo!"

"Hi." She kicked the boy in the shin and grabbed his collar. "I'm going back to see my brother. Got a problem with that?"

"N-no ma'am!"

"Good." Patria opened the door and went backstage. She'd been back here enough bringing her brother snacks before rehearsal that she knew where his dressing room was. Sneaking along, she came to the door and slipped inside.

Her twin brother jumped. His facial expression would have been priceless if not for the white mask that covered half his face. "Tria!?"

"Hey, bro!"

"You're not supposed to be back here!"

She laughed. "I know, but does it look like I care?"

The boy huffed, putting on his black coat and cape. "This _is_ a dressing room, sis. What if I had been in my underwear?"

"Pith, we literally grew up side-by-side since we were in diapers. I have already seen you in your underwear before." The girl leaned against the wall. "Look, I just wanted to check on you and wish you good luck."

Pith looked over at her, a soft smile crossing his features. "Well, thanks. How are you doing? Did you get any sleep last night?"

"Barely any…"

"Well, if it gets too bad we can tell Dad."

"Nope." Patria let out a sigh. "Not doing that. And if you tell him, I'll beat you black and blue. Now, I'm gonna head to my seat before Mom and Dad get antsy. So, break a leg, bro."

"Thanks!" The boy smiled as his twin slipped out the door. It felt good to know that she cared.

Patria slipped back out, straightened her clothes and hair before joining her parents in the audience. Sora raised an eyebrow as she sat down. "Is everything alright? You took a while getting here."

"Dad, everything is absolutely perfect." She leaned back in her chair as the lights dimmed, and the show began.

* * *

 **Well, here's a nice peaceful chapter to reintroduce everyone!**

 **There will be quite a few footnotes and VAs down below, so just be aware.**

 **Please review!**

* * *

 _If you are interested in following my other writings (fanfictions, short stories, and upcoming novel) and/or my art, you can look for me on Deviantart (KristenKHVerne), Tumblr (Kristen Verne), Facebook (Kristen Verne), Instagram (Kristen Verne), or Twitter (Kristen Verne)._

* * *

Footnotes:

(1) The information on this can be found in the Mukxo epilogue of KH4.

(2) If you've played the game series this is from, her homeworld is obvious.

(3)If you're new here, these two are former Jedi apprentices.

(4) Nintendoman01 and I toyed with the idea that Xally sucked at cooking, and I decided to implement it.

(5) Finally picked background music for this world too "Ancient Stones" from Skyrim.

(6) I finally picked background music for this world! "Rays of Light" from Nier: Automata.

(7) I named these two after the angels Michael and Gabriel mentioned in the Bible.

(8) Yes, Larxene's Somebody.

(9) Marluxia's Somebody, and yes I know we found out his name is Lauriam, but I already made his name this in my cannon, so for continuity's sake, I can't change it.

(10) Son of Rinoa and Squall Leonheart and the son of Aerith and Zack Fair.

* * *

 _VAs: (in order of appearance)_

 _Raelyn- George Rainsford (Luceus)_

 _Eve- Jodelle Ferland (Little Sister, Aggie)_

 _Adam- Robert McCollum (Red Eye, Reiner Braun, Jellal Fernandes, Sweden)_

 _Yuyake Mukxo- Newton Pittman (Gray Fullbuster, Magra, Yutaka "Panties" Itazu)_

 _Maxine Reach- Cherami Leigh (Sailor Venus, Asuna Yuuki, Lucy Heartfilia, A2)_

 _Justin Chapel-Petra- Jason Ritter (Dipper Pines, Mr. Fisk, Skipper)_

 _Xally Chapel-Petra- Kristen Schaal (Mabel Pines, Trixie, Louise Belcher, Jake Jr.)_

 _Ignis Petra- Terri Doty (Young Jellal Fernandes, Young Ayato Kirishima)_

 _Glacies Petra- Kira Buckland (2B, Zushi, Honoka, Kuroyukihime, Izumo Kamiki)_

 _Terrance Garner- Kyle McCarley (Helbram, 9S, Alm, Aoba Kuronuma, Leohart)_

 _Ryô Caelum- Taron Egerton (Jonny)_

 _Gabriel Angelo- Vic Mignogna (Edward Elric, Eld Jinn, Mard Geer, Tamaki Suoh)_

 _Michael Angelus- J Michael Tatum (Shiro, Sebastian Michaelis, Simon, Kyoya Otori)_

 _Alya Ater- Monica Rial (Kaede Kayano, Bulma, Mirajane Strauss, Tashigi)_

 _Vanette Ater- Leah Clark (Yukiko Kanzaki, Mavis Vermillion, Matilda, Mayu Otsuka)_

 _Blaze Fahrenheit- Meg Ryan [singing voice- Liz Callaway] (Anastasia, Dr. Blight)_

 _Brimstone Fahrenheit- Eric Vale (Future Trunks, Loke, Phoenix Wright, America)_

 _Ivan Leonheart- Ray Chase (Howzer, Tien Shinhan, Eve)_

 _Vladimir Fair- Robbie Daymond (Spider-Man, Gilthunder, Kurasame Susaya, Prompto)_

 _Hara Tsuchi- Danielle Nicolet (Storm, Karui, Jacqui Briggs, Shaundi)_

 _Hikari Tsuchi- Cristine Marie Cabanos (Silica, Mew, Shiemi Moriyama, Sailor Saturn)_

 _Patria Kumo- Jamie Marchi (Cana, Rinka Hayami, Mt. Lady, Rebecca Catalina)_

 _Pith Kumo- Grant Gustin (The Flash/Barry Allen)_

* * *

 **Reasons Why**

I've done this devo before, but this is a new story, so this is for all the new readers who do not know this.

Some of you may wonder why I'm doing and why I have done this little devos at the bottom of my stories. Or, you may have wondered why I am a Christian.

Before I really start the deovs, I'm going to take this one to tell you why I believe what I believe.

If you have read the Narnia series, you would know a character named Puddleglum. This character, after taking a class on C.S. Lewis, helped me really understood why I believe what I do.

In one moment of the book, he and the others are put under a spell by a witch and she makes them believe that everything outside of her realm is but a dream. Puddleglum undoes the spell and gives a speech to the witch:

 _"One word, Ma'am," he said, coming back from the fire; limping, because of the pain. "One word. All you've been saying is quite right, I shouldn't wonder. I'm a chap who always liked to know the worst and then put the best face I can on it. So I won't deny any of what you said. But there's one more thing to be said, even so. Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things-trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that's a funny thing, when you come to think of it. We're just babies making up a game, if you're right. But four babies playing a game can make a play-world which licks your real world hollow. That's why I'm going to stand by the play world. I'm on Aslan's side even if there isn't any Aslan to lead it. I'm going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn't any Narnia. So, thanking you kindly for our supper, if these two gentlemen and the young lady are ready, we're leaving your court at once and setting out in the dark to spend our lives looking for Overland. Not that our lives will be very long, I should think; but that's a small loss if the world's as dull a place as you say."_

This basically says what I believe.

I choose to believe in God and what He says, because why would I want to believe in anything else?

The world says we evolved and came into being by accident; we are nothing more than cells with no real purpose in life. God says that we were made in his image, crafted by his hands, made on purpose and that we each have a purpose in our lives.

The world looks at illness and pain, some of which is fatal and says there's nothing they can do. God says that we are healed. The lame can walk, the blind can see, the deaf can hear, those with cancer can be made whole, those with incurable diseases can be healed.

The world looks at death as the end; when we die, that's it, that's all there is. God says, that if we believe and accept him, we get to live forever in Heaven, where the streets are made of gold and there is a mansion waiting for us.

The world looks at people and says that they are alone; people turn their backs on each other all the time, and we all feel alone sometimes, and many people feel like no one could ever love them. God looks down and sees us as we are, no matter what mistakes we've made, no matter if we believe in him or not, and he loves us all regardless.

Why would I want to believe what the world says? The world talks of darkness and that there is no hope, no purpose.

But God is the light in the darkness, the hope for the hopeless, and He has a purpose for each of us.

This is why I believe what I believe.


	3. Chapter 2: Vengence is Mine

**Well, here we go, guys!**

 **If you know how I write, the second chapter usually sets things into motion.**

 **I hope you enjoy!**

 **Kingdom Hearts © to Disney and Square Enix!**

 **Sasuke and Hinata © to Yamichaos27!**

 **Ana © to Nurse Ven!**

 **Marcus © to Blackheart the Dark Lord!**

 **Erin © to Advisor Vexen!**

 **Luna © to Nintendoman01!**

 **Other OCs © to me!**

* * *

 **Chapter 2: Vengeance Is Mine**

* * *

" _Sora… Sora…_ "

The spikey-haired man sat up in bed. He knew the voice in his head. "Oukoku?"

"Sora," Kairi rubbed her eyes as she looked up at her husband. "What is it?"

"I'll be back. I think Oukoku wants me." He stood up, dressing quickly before hurrying off.

Reaching Kingdom Hearts took mere moments. Focusing his heart on the magical land, he vanished in a flash of light. When his eyes opened, he found himself standing in a field of silver grass under a dark sky where the great heart-shaped moon hung over a pure white castle. Sora went into the castle and to the throne room. The glowing figure of a man with brown hair appeared.

" _Sora, I'm glad you came._ "

"Hey, Oukoku. What was so important that it couldn't wait until morning?"

The ghostly man suddenly looked sheepish. " _Oh. Whoops, my bad. Time is kinda wonky when you're in this world and that goes double when you're dead._ " He let out a sigh before his face became serious. " _I wanted to warn you._ "

"Warn me? Of what?"

" _A force of darkness, one so strong that it even scares me._ " Oukoku looked up at the moon through the skylights. " _And I especially wanted to warn you because some of that darkness is centered around your daughter._ "

Sora stiffened. "Patria? I-I might have been more inclined to believe you a year ago, but she's mellowed out so much this last year."

" _I did not say that she was the source of the darkness, only that it was centered around her. It is likely that she doesn't even know it's there. But I wouldn't say anything to her about it just in case she is aware of the darkness and is hiding it on purpose. Just watch over her._ "

Sora bit his lip as the smiling face of his daughter filled his thoughts. "Alright… I'll keep an eye on her. Thanks for the heads up."

" _No problem, Sora. Just be careful._ "

"I will."

* * *

Areth Himitsu looked up from his notebook at the boy who sat across from him. "Well, Pith, you have come a long way in the last year. We can continue these sessions if you want."

"Yes, sir. I'd like to.," Sora's son smiled.

Areth was an old family friend and was the top psychologist, psychiatrist, and counselor. On a small island, finding different people to fill all the roles was difficult, so one man did them all. The old man closed his notebook. "Well, then I will see you next week at the same time."

"Yes, sir." Pith picked up his backpack.

"By the way, I saw the show. You were wonderful."

The boy grinned. "Thank you, Dr. Areth."

The boy walked outside the office, followed by the doctor. Patria sat in the waiting room with Areth's daughter, Owari. The woman looked up. "Hi, Dad."

"Hello, Owari. Here to see your students or your father."

The girl looked at Pith. "I came to congratulate Pith on the play, and to get his late chemistry homework."

The boy chuckled nervously. "Uh… whoops." He handed her a packet of papers. "I'd love to talk, but I have to go write an essay for History class."

"Have fun with that!"

* * *

"Moooom!"

"Patria? What is it?"

"What's for dinner?"

"Leftovers."

"Crap!"

Pith laughed to himself as he heard the yelling on the other side of his door. As crazy as life way, he wouldn't trade it for anything. He loved his mom and dad, he had his sister's back, and she had his.

"I really don't know how you can stand this horrible noise."

The boy whirled around. "You!?"

A girl with brown hair, the braid hanging over her shoulder. She wore a red outfit and black boots. "Miss me, Pith?"

"Briana!"

"Oh no…" she mocked. "My psycho ex." Briana leaned on the door, blocking his escape. "Admit it, you missed me."

"Not a chance!" Pith summoned his Keyblade.

Briana warped to his right side. "We can play this game Pith."

"No, we can't!" The boy swung at her, but she warped away. "Mom! Dad! Tria!" He heard the footsteps of his family coming towards the door, but… A sharp point drove into his neck and liquid slipped into his veins. In a moment, he passed out.

Briana summoned her crossbow, planting a number of bolts into the door and doorframe to jam the door shut for a few moments. With a wave of her hand, a dark corridor appeared; she grabbed Pith and dragged him to it.

"Pith!?" Sora banged against the door until it snapped the bolts, and the door flew open. He, Kairi, and Patria saw Briana holding an unconscious Pith. She waved as the corridor shut, and the two vanished. "Pith! No!"

"BRIANA!" Patria ran to the spot where the corridor vanished. "Dad!"

"I know." the man seemed hardly able to contain his anger while his wife stared in horror. "Kairi. Go to Radiant Garden and tell Ansem what happened. Take Patria. I'll go see Yen Sid and see if he can track our son."

"Dad!"

Patria tried to run after him, but Kairi grabbed her. "No… he's right. We need to get to Radiant Garden. It's an easy travel hub with help. It's the best place."

The girl looked up at her mom. She could see the emotions that threatened to spill forth, but Kairi held them back. "O-ok, Mom. We'll go."

* * *

Sora threw the door to Yen Sid's tower open. The old wizard looked up from a book. "Sora, what is it?"

"Braig's daughter; she just kidnapped my son. Can you find him?"

"I will try." Yen Sid moved to his desk, summoning magic power as they keybearer paced back and forth.

"Why would she take him? If she hates him then she'd just kill him."

The wizard sighed. "Sora, I am sorry… I can't seem to locate him, but I will continue to try."

"Do you think they could be on the World That Never Was?"

"Perhaps," Yen Sid continued to concentrate. "However, that world completely vanished ten years ago(1). There are no traces left of that world, but if it still exists and there's a way to reach it, they could have taken him there. As for why they took him, revenge perhaps. Braig hates you and Kairi, and your children helped take the throne from him and his family on Hazy Hamlet."

"What do you think we should do?"

"I think you and the others should search as many worlds as you can, searching for any sign of Braig or anyone with him." Yen Sid looked at the man. "I can call them to Radiant Garden and send you with something to track him and those with him.

"Thank you."

The wizard looked towards the window, holding out a hand as light shot out into space, splitting off in many directions. "I'll get you the trackers and send you to Radiant Garden."

"Thank you…" Sora stared into the starry sky. "Pith, please, be safe."

* * *

Ansem looked over at his niece, "Kairi, we will find him."

"I'm just worried we won't find him in time."

"We don't know why Pith was taken, but I'm sure he's alive." Patria looked up. "If Briana wanted him dead, she would've killed him right there. That means she wants him for something."

"Or Braig does." Sora came into the room with a bag.

Sasuke tightened the grip on his sword. "Any word?"

"Master Yen Sid can't find him, but he thinks that they might have taken him to the World That Never Was if it still exists."

"What happened to that place anyway?"

Ansem rolled his wheelchair(2) over to his desk. "Patria, ten years ago it vanished completely and no one has been able to locate it. We assumed it stopped existing, but there was no proof of that." He groaned, clutching his arms.

"My lord," Ienzo took the back of his wheelchair. "Do not move yourself around, and did you take the pain medicine this morning."

"Blasted pain medicine." The old man pulled a bottle of pills from his desk. "Blasted osteoporosis(3)…" He popped the pills into his mouth before turning to his family. "We should bring the others here and start searching for Pith."

"Old Yen Sid took care of that." Lea stepped into the room followed by his wife and two kids. "The others should be coming this way."

Blaze crossed her arms. "I better go call Professor Xavier, and let him know I won't be coming back for a while."

"You go do that."

Sora gave them a small smile. "Thanks, guys. I'm worried about my son, but I know we'll find him!"

"I see that all those gray hairs haven't dulled your optimism."

"Shut up! You have more gray than me, Lea!"

* * *

"So, who's going and who's staying?"

Roxas rubbed his eyes. "Xi, you go with Yake. I'll stay and watch the kids."

"Are you sure?"

The man nodded. "One of us has to go help Sora and his family, and the other has to stay and watch the kids. I might as well stay since all the bills are in my name and I'll need to sign them. If the search takes a long time, you can come here and we'll switch."

"Alright, Roxas." Xion hugged her husband. "Yuyake is already packing. I'll go pack and then tell the kids bye." She hurried from the room to prepare for the journey.

Roxas leaned back in his desk chair as numerous sets of feet came towards the door. "Ana, Marcus, Erin, what is it?"

"Adonde va?"

"Ana wants to know where Mrs. Xion is going." Marcus scratched his glowing cheek(4).

"I wanna know too!"

Roxas smiled at the three. "She and Yuyake are going to help some friends of ours. I'll be sticking around though."

"Eso es bueno!"

Roxas smiled at the kids, and his heart stung. Sora's son had been taken; Roxas couldn't imagine the feeling especially since he had so many kids to look after now. What would he do if he lost even one of them?

* * *

Glacies folded up a set of clothes and placed it into the small trunk. "I'm sorry, Terrance, but this is important."

"I understand." The elf handed her another shirt. "I just wish I could come with you."

"I wish you could too, but this could be dangerous, and you're not a fighter."

He nodded. "That is true." Both looked up as a knock echoed through the house. "Sounds like your family is here."

A minute later, Terra, Aqua, Justin, Xally, and Ignis came through the door. "Glace!" The toddler ran to his older sister.

"Ignis!" She hugged him. "I missed you, buddy!" She hugged the rest of her family before turning to her friend. "Everyone, this is my gardener and dear friend, Terrance." He bowed respectfully. "Mom, did you seal the Land of Departure?"

Aqua nodded. "It's Castle Oblivion now. Everyone is meeting at Radiant Garden; we decided to take Ignis, knowing he'd be safe there, and I'm certain he's keen to see his friend, Hinata again." The toddler grinned happily at the name of his friend."

"We better get going," Terra said. "Pith is missing and every moment puts him even more in danger."

"That's right." Glacies picked up her trunk before embracing her gardener. "I'll miss you. Take care of the house for me."

"I will, my dear friend."

* * *

"We can't go."

"Dad!" Ryô cried. "We have to help Pith!"

Naminé laid a hand on her son's shoulder. "We know, but we have responsibilities now. We can't just go off for a long time and not return. You should go, we will remain here and offer what help we can."

"My queen," a yellow elf with white hair approached. "I will go with him."

"Luna?"

"This Briana who took your friend, she was in charge of the assassins that Lyla joined. I must find her. Lyla is my best friend, and I will save her from that dark fate" Luna gripped the handle of her sword. "And I will protect the prince with my life."

Ven nodded. "Luna, go with Ry. Both of you, be safe."

"Yes, Dad."

"Yes, your majesty."

* * *

Hara sighed. "I don't like it, but I guess it's alright."

"Don't worry, Hara," Riku kissed his wife's forehead. "Hikari, you can go."

"Yes!" The girl cheered, exciting her baby brother.

"But not alone." The king patted her head. "I wish I could help, but I swore to Mickey that I wouldn't leave the kingdom to go on adventures. So, I'll send you with two of your friends. I already summoned them here. Max Goof will go with you, and I would send Webby, but Donald says she's not ready. So, P.J. will be going with you; I think he's ready."

His daughter's eyes lit up. "Awesome! I'll take a gummi ship, and we'll save Pith!" She hugged her parents and ran outside. Max stood beside P.J. near the gummi hanger.

The dog held his skateboard which doubled as a shield(5), and the cat held a large mallet that Riku helped him make for training(6). "Kari!" P.J. waved. "You ready?"

"Yeah! Are you?"

"Heck yeah!" Max grinned. "We're ready to help!"

"Let's go save my cousin!"

"Yeah!"

* * *

Pith groaned as he rubbed his head. "Ow... what happened?"

"Looks like you're up." The boy looked around. He sat in the middle of a small room with purple walls. One side was open with bars going from the ceiling to floor, and a white hallway glittered on the other side of the bars. Briana stood on the other side with Braig and a woman who resembled Briana.

"Briana! Where am I? Where's my family!?"

The other woman grinned. "Don't worry, boy. They're alive."

"Holly," Braig grinned, " why don't you take Bri upstairs and prep the others for their assignments."

"Of course, dear." The two women walked away, leaving Braig and Pith alone.

Pith walked up to the bars; the gap between them seemed large enough to squeeze through but as he reached for the empty space, a force field shocked him. "You thought of everything, didn't you? Now, what do you want with me?"

"I don't want anything..." Braig's eye suddenly turned pitch black, like Xehanort's during their last battle.

" _I do_."

The boy gasped. "You... you're the one who possessed Xehanort!"

" _Yes, and now I moved on to Braig. I will admit, I like this man better. Xehanort was such an egomaniac and didn't understand how to follow orders. Braig is much better suited as long as I keep my end of the bargain, he will cooperate._ "

"What bargain?"

" _The death of Sora._ " The dark voice chuckled. " _Now, as for you, you are bait. I've begun bringing a dear friend of yours into my control, but they are resisting. You are here as a tool, to help me break their spirit._ "

"Who do you...? Patria!?" The younger twin yelled. "Leave my sister alone!"

" _Not happening. She will submit to the darkness, or I will drive her sanity from her until she gives in._ "

"Leave her alone!"

Braig's eye reverted back to normal. "Keep begging, brat. It's pathetic..." His expression shifted to one of annoyance. "And wipe that annoying look off your face. You look too much like your dad." With those words, he left, leaving the boy alone in the cell.

* * *

 **Well, that happened fast.**

 **Rescue op in action!**

 **Please Review!**

* * *

Footnotes:

(1) This is something I'm adding in. TWTNW vanished ten years prior with no traces at all.

(2) Ansem the Wise has gotten old and has other issues.

(3) Osteoporosis is when bones become weak and brittle because the body can't keep up with replacing old cells, so the bones become weak. In some cases, people have to use wheelchairs because of the pain and frailty of their bones.

(4) Marcus is a glowing one, which is a ghoul from Fallout. He is specifically from Fallout New Vegas.

(5) I am using PrismRain13's version of Max, with her permission.

(6) Riku has become a father-figure for P.J. and has been training him. I will be posting a drawing of my version of him on Deviantart soon. Also, this idea for P.J. came from some friends on my Discord server.

* * *

 _VAs:_

 _Areth Himitsu- R. Bruce Elliott (Tanka, Makarov Dreyar, Richard Moore, Ginyu)_

 _Owari Himitsu- Colleen Clinkenbeard (Riza Hawkeye, Erza Scarlet, Rachel Moore)_

 _Briana Sagitta- Grey Delisle (Azula, Daphne Blake, Captain Marvel, Carmelita Fox)_

 _Sasuke Kazekiri- Jonny Yong Bosch (Sasori, Ichigo Kurosaki, Firion, Artemis)_

 _Ana- Aimee Carrero (Elena of Avalor)_

 _Marcus- Benjamin Bratt (Ernesto De La Cruz, Superman, Manny, El Macho)_

 _Erin- Erica Mendez (Diane, Gon Freecss, Yuuki Konno, Ryuko Matoi, Sailor Uranus)_

 _Luna Sylvari- Sarah Williams (Lisbeth, Echo, Uni, Jinx, Sayaka Miki, Nonon Jakuzure)_

 _Holly Sagirra- Lara Bailey (Lust, Black Widow, Xing Huo, Nadine Ross, Lucina)_

* * *

 **The Light of Love**

I know I have done this devo before, but this is a new story, so I want to say some things for all the new readers; I want you all to understand how much you are loved.

God loves each and every one of you, even if you do not believe in him or do not love Him back. Love is something that each of us has heard of and, hopefully, we express it in some way to someone.

Many of you, possibly because someone who claimed to be a Christian (which I will discuss in a later devo), said something that makes it sound like God hates you, want nothing to do with God. However, I want to tell you, that God does not hate you. God loves you.

1 John 4:8 says, " _Anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love._ " God is love itself. No matter what we do, good or bad, God still loves us eternally. Romans 5:8 says, " _but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us._ "

Most of you have probably heard the verse John 3:16, " _For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life._ " Even if you don't want to believe if someone was willing to give up something precious in order to save you, would you not want to know?

God wants you to know that He loves you so much. There is nothing you could do, that could make Him love you any less. Nothing can separate you from His unending love.

Romans 8:37-39, " _No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord._ "

I just want you to know, that you are loved. The creator of the universe looks down, and looks past all your wrongdoings and says that He loves you.


	4. Chapter 3: Split

**Well, the worlds and action will start next chapter, but this one will set everything up, so it's pretty short. (And by that I mean it is annoying short and I am a little ticked that I got everything I needed into such a small chapter!)**

 **I hope you enjoy it!**

 **I forgot the VA for one of Yami's characters... I'M SORRY!**

 **Thank you to** **Hero King Zeta 1991** **for following/favoriting.**

 **Kingdom Hearts © to Disney and Square Enix!**

 **Sasuke and Hinata © to Yamichaos27!**

 **Luna © to Nintendoman01!**

 **Other OCs © to me!**

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Split**

* * *

The large group stood in the middle of the castle at Radiant Garden. Usually, this group would be laughing, talking, and joking, but only silence filled the air now. The only words spoken were hushed "I'm sorry"'s and "we'll find him"'s to Kairi, Sora, and Patria.

Sasuke looked over at Sora and sighed. "There's no way we can fit all of them on a single ship."

"That's why Yen Sid sent me with multiple trackers. We can split up, each taking a tracker. That way we can scour more worlds for him."

"Sounds good."

Sasuke looked at the large group. "Well, if you're going to split up, we need to know who is going with who. If you'd like, I can assign groups to make things go a little faster."

"Go for it."

"Sora," the captain looked around, "your family should join be joined by Hikari and her friends. I'm sure Riku would be happy to have you guys keeping an eye on her. Lea, your family, and Xion's family will be the next group. Terra, you'll be paired with Ry and Luna."

Sora handed out little objects that looked like dark purple star shards. "This will help us locate Braig or any of his flunkies."

Terra took one, looking down at it. "Ry, once we set out, we should go by Traverse Town and see if Vanitas will join us."

"We can try," the boy nodded. "I don't know if he'll want to, but it doesn't hurt to try."

Aqua knelt down to her youngest son, who stood holding the hand of his friend, Hinata. "Ignis, you be good for Sasuke and Rydia(1). We'll be back soon."

"Ok." He hugged her. "Love you…"

"We love you too, baby."

"Dad," Patria put her hands behind her head. "I know we can find him, so let's get moving."

Sora sighed, clenching the small object in his hand. "Yeah."

* * *

The three ships shot out into interspace; Ansem and Sasuke watched from the hanger. The old man coughed. "That poor boy. What could Braig possibly want with him?"

"I do not know, but it can't be good." The captain looked down as two sets of feet ran towards them. Ignis and Hinata ran to him. "Hey, Hinata, why don't you take Ignis and find Mommy?"

"Ok, Daddy!"

The two men watched them go. They could not see the innocence as their minds clung to the horrifying circumstances that Pith now found himself in.

* * *

Pith paced around his cell.

How long had he been here?

His stomach growled, and his headache grew worse by the moment.

"Ugh…" the boy lightly hit his head against the wall. "If they wanted to kill me they should've just done it rather than leave me here to go nuts from isolation, starve to death, and pass out from dehydration."

"Don't be so dramatic." A dark corridor opened and Briana, Jazzy, Malachi, and Cander stepped out.

"If you didn't bring me food or water, please go away."

"I thought you'd be more open to us visiting since we haven't fed you in about 12 hours."

Pith leaned back, glaring at his enemies. "You know, I've decided not to panic. Since I'm a prisoner, I'm going to be sarcastic, sassy, and just generally annoying. And if I'm in a good mood, I might be a little passive-aggressive."

"Wow." Malachi groaned. "You are going to be a pain… should we starve him a little more?"

The former princess rolled her eyes, summoning her crossbows. "No. We'll go ahead and do it now." She nodded to Jazzy.

"Yes, ma'am." The mutant slammed Pith into the wall using her sand powers. The swirling force turned Pith around so his back faced the four. Malachi grabbed two knives from his belt and jabbed them into the boy's sleeves, pinning them to the wall as Jazzy's powers stopped.

" _Petrificus Totalus_!" Cander pointed his wand at Pith, causing the boy to become still. "Milady, he is all yours."

Briana smirked. "Pith. Your bravery is commendable, but we want you to break and beg for mercy. Why? Because causing people pain is fun!" She pulled out a whip, drew it back, and swung the lash across Pith's back(2).

Over and over.

* * *

Terra, Aqua, Glacies, and Ryô landed on Traverse Town, leaving Luna and the younger kids behind on the ship. The blond boy pointed down the street. "Vanitas' home is that way. Follow me."

He led them down the dark streets. Children played along the road, laughing. Ryô smiled as he saw the white house belonging to the Ater family(3). The front door hung open with some Unversed going in and out.

"That's definitely their house."

Aqua knocked on the open door. "Hello?"

"Who's there?" Alya poked her head out from the dining room. "Oh! Hello. Come in!" The woman smiled. "I'm so happy to see all of you; it's been a while."

Glacies bowed her head. "Hello, Alya. How are you?"

"I'm doing wonderful! Are you here to see my husband?"

"Yes," Terra nodded. "Is he here?"

The pale-haired woman nodded. "He is upstairs getting ready for work. You came just in time; just go on upstairs." She sat down at a nearby table, a sewing machine and blue fabric in front of her.

"Thank you." Glacies, Terra, and Ryô went upstairs, but Aqua sat down beside Alya.

"What are you making?"

Alya smiled. "Well, I have been taking commissions lately, and this is a dress a neighbor wants her daughter to have for her birthday."

"It's lovely."

"Thank you!"

Upstairs, Vanitas looked up as the three walked in, his eyes narrowing. "Why are you here?"

"Godfather, we need your help!" Ryô stepped forward. "Pith Kumo was kidnapped by Braig's daughter. We're trying to find him and we wanted you to joi…"

"No!" Vanitas stood up. "Can't go. I have a family to provide for. If I leave my job, someone will scoop it up and I won't have a way to provide for them. It took me months to get this job, even though I hate it." He sighed when he saw their distressed faces. "Look, it's not that I don't care, but do you understand how hard it is to get a job here? There are so many refugees that want jobs that most jobs are part-time. To even get a full-time job, you have to have lived here and held a job for five years. Right now, I'm barely providing for my family as it is. If you want my help, I can send the Unversed out to search out in the different worlds."

Terra smiled. "We understand… Thank you. We'll leave you to your work."

Ryô let out a long sigh as they walked downstairs. "Well, dang it."

"At least he's helping in any way he can." Glacies patted her friend's shoulder. "Let's hurry and get back to the ship."

"Sounds good."

* * *

Cander's spell wore off and Pith's body relaxed. All the pain stored up from the spell hit his nerves like a fire.

"AAAAUGH!" He slumped down, his sleeves tearing where the knives had him pinned. His body crumpled down. Behind him, Briana and the two boys laughed; only Jazzy kept silent. He heard them vanish into a dark corridor but didn't move. He just laid there.

Time passed, and Pith laid there, blood still pooling around him.

The cell door slid open, but he was far too weak to move. He heard Xext yelling. "You keep trying to escape! You'll regret that!" A moment later, the cell door shut again. A grating sound echoed off the walls. "Here's your food…"

Out of the corner of his eye, Pith saw Angel standing up from where her twin had thrown her. The white-haired girl looked around until she saw Pith. "Oh no!" The girl ran over, kneeling beside him. Angel pulled a white shawl from around her shoulders, pressing it against the tears on his back.

"Augh!"

"Oh! I'm sorry!" She pulled back, running over one of two food trays her brother put in the cell. She grabbed one glass of water and brought it over to Pith. The boy felt the cool water trickling down his back; he cringed as she pressed the shawl against his back again. "Don't worry. Everything will be fine…"

Angel's voice faded away as darkness covered Pith's eyes, blocking out everything around him.

* * *

 **Again, I said it would be short, but that's only because the real fun starts next chapter!**

 **Please review!**

* * *

Footnotes:

(1) If you don't remember, Sasuke is married to Rydia from FF4.

(2) Briana is a sadist…

(3) The dalmatian's house from KH1.

* * *

 _VAs:_

 _Malachi- Khary Payton (Aqualad/ Kaldur'ahm, Wasabi, Grimlock, Cyborg, Black Manta)_

 _Jazzy- Lauren Landa (Merlin, Sakuya, Annie Leonhart, Sailor Neptune, Robin [female])_

 _Cander- John Patrick Lowrie (Sniper, Galar, William the Kid)_

 _Hinata Kazekiri- Stephanie Sheh (Hinata Hyuga, Yui, Sailor Moon, Shu Li)_

 _Xext- Austin Tindle (Alzack Connell, Karma Akabane, Marco Bodt, Ken Kaneki)_

 _Angel- Bryn Apprill (Meldy, Ritsu, Krista Lenz, Ibara Shiozaki, Anna Clement, Urith)_

* * *

 **This Is Me**

For many years, I've dealt with loneliness and potential social anxiety, worrying about being completely alone, and even choosing to be alone than to be around people I think don't like me.

I allowed what people have said about me to dictate what I think about myself. I wonder what is wrong with me, what did I do.

I am still dealing with this and it doesn't get fixed in one day, but it is a process.

I am learning to see myself not through my peers but through God's eyes. Throughout the Bible, God shows and says how much he loves us and how he sees us. He formed us, knew every part of us before we were even born. He sees us as his children and loves us regardless of what we do.

Again, it is a process, and it takes work on our end to catch ourselves when we speak bad things against ourselves, saying what other people say or make us feel, we need to stop those thoughts and remind ourselves what God thinks of us.


	5. Chapter 4: Land of Dragons- Min and Shu

**Well, now we start the worlds!**

 **This one is loosely based on Mulan 2, which I have actually never seen.**

 **Enjoy the show!**

 **Kingdom Hearts © to Disney and Square Enix!**

 **OCs © to me!**

 **Mulan © to Disney!**

* * *

 **Chapter 4: Land of Dragons- Min and Shu**

* * *

"Dad, has the thing found them yet?"

Sora rolled his eyes. "No, Tria. I'll tell you when it goes off."

Hikari sat with Max and P.J., playing cards. Kairi flew the ship. They left Radiant Garden about two hours before.

Sora looked down at the small tracker in his hand. "Son, we're on our way…" Suddenly, the tracker blinked. "Got something!" Everyone gathered around the cockpit as Sora held up the tracker. He moved it around in different directions. He pointed it to the left and the blinking sped up. "That way!"

"Got it!" Kairi turned the ship and they followed the blinking.

* * *

Pith groaned, his back stinging with every movement. "Augh!"

"Don't move." Angel took his hand.

"Wh-what…?"

The girl forced a smile. "Don't move. This is going to hurt." She uncovered his injured back, laying her jacket to the side. "I hate to ask, but I have to remove your shirt to bind the wounds, so do you mind?" Pith shook his head and the girl slowly took his shirt off, peeling it off his back. The boy gasped in pain as the back of his shirt pulled at the wounds, tearing off the scabs and reopening the tears in his flesh. "Sorry!"

"It had to be done."

The girl grabbed a cup of water, probably for drinking, and dipped a clean part of Pith's shirt into it and began cleaning the wounds, slowly. Pith relaxed, the pain from his wounds sapping his strength as he closed his eyes once again.

Angel tore the sleeve of her white jacket into strips, binding the wounds on her companion's back. At least, for the first time in her life, she didn't feel alone.

* * *

"There's the world!" Max pointed as a world appeared before them.

Sora's face lit up. "Land of Dragons!? I-I haven't been there since…"

"Forever?"

"I visited after we beat Xehanort, so it's been almost twenty years."

Patria groaned. "You can be nostalgic later. Pith could be here and in danger! Let's go!"

Kairi and Sora looked at one another before shrugging and going after their daughter with the other three following.

* * *

"This brings back memories." They stood at the gates of the imperial palace.

"Dad, you're doing it again."

Sora noticed his hands were behind his head, a habit he picked up from Ven. He'd tried to break that habit for years. "Whoops." He lowered his hands as his wife giggled.

"Who goes there!" A strong voice called out. A man in armor stepped into view, pausing as he saw the group. "Wait, Sora?"

"Shang?"

The two men laughed, clasping hands in joy. The soldier laughed. "It has been far too long!"

"Yes, it has. How have you been?"

"Good!" Shang smiled. "Please, come with me, I'd love to hear everything about your life."

Sora's face fell. "Shang, I'd love to, but I'm searching for my son. He's been kidnapped, and we have reason to believe that either he is here or one of the people responsible for his kidnapping is here."

"I see." The general nodded. "Still, all of you come with me. My wife has been out on missions lately, so she might have heard something about your son or these enemies."

Kairi smiled. "Thank you, Shang."

"I think we should just search!"

"Patria, don't be rude." Hikari chided her older cousin who just glared down at the little girl.

* * *

Mulan poured tea as everyone sat down in her and Shang's home. "Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I haven't heard anything about a boy that resembles you. I'm sorry this had to happen to your family."

"Māma," a girl with short black hair sat down beside Shang, "Shu and I might know something."

"Yes!" Another girl, with long black hair, came from where she stood at the back of the room. "Min(1) and I heard something about a strange boy with the warriors from over the sea(2)."

"Min, Shu, we told you to stay away from them. They are dangerous." Shang narrowed his eyes.

Min let out a sharp huff. "Bàba(3), you and Māma taught us to fight, and we didn't go alone. Mushu went with us."

"Of course he did…"

"What did this boy look like?" P.J. spoke between sips of tea.

Shu shook her head. "We never actually saw him, but the traders spoke highly of him, saying that he had mystical powers and harnessed the power of the gods through a stick in his hand."

"Cander!" Patria snarled. "It's gotta be him. He's probably what drew us here."

Max grinned. "Then we just go ask those traders where he is."

"And get them mad at us for going after their ally? No thanks."

Sora looked around. "Hikari's right. We could ask them about him, but I don't think that they'll give up his location so easily."

"Shu, Min, where can we find these men?"

"We can show you tomorrow."

Mulan stood up. "I'll be going as well. If this boy is as dangerous as he sounds, then we need to make certain he isn't causing any trouble. And if these traders are harboring him, we will have to deal with all of them."

"I'll inform the emperor of this development." Shang smiled at his wife before turning to the others. "All of you are welcome to stay with us for the night."

"Thanks, Shang."

* * *

Patria tossed on the mat, unable to sleep. "Sleeping on the floor… fun."

" _Oh don't complain._ " The dark voice slithered into her thoughts once again. " _It wasn't like I was going to let you really sleep anyway._ "

"Just leave me alone."

She saw the dark figure appear beside me, sitting and leaning against the wall. " _You know I won't do that, Patria. We made a deal, and until you keep your end, I will never let you rest._ "

Patria rolled over, turning her back on the figure. "I am going to sleep. Buzz off!" She forced her eyes closed, focusing on the sound of the wind against the house walls, and the trickling water in the garden behind the house. Eventually, sleep took over, just as she wanted.

But still, she had no peace.

The man of darkness still strode about her dreams. So that, while her body rested, her mind did not. He would never allow it.

* * *

Hikari, waking early in the morning, skipped around the garden, taking care not to step on any flowers. "Beautiful…"

"You always did like waking up early."

The princess giggled. "Good morning to you too, P.J. How'd you sleep?"

"Pretty well. How about you?"

"Good. I'm worried about my cousin, but I feel in my heart that he is alive and safe." She sat down, looking around at the trees and flowers.

Both of them looked up as Kairi came outside. "Good morning, you two."

"Morning Ms. Kairi."

The woman rolled her shoulder. "I hope you two slept well because we're going out soon. Breakfast is ready inside. Eat quickly and we'll go." She turned and went inside; Sora helped Mulan cook while Shang prepared to leave for the palace. Kairi went into the room where her daughter lay, a look of pain and fear on Patria's face. "Another nightmare…" The mother leaned over her daughter, gently shaking her. "Patria, wake up. It's time to go."

"Ugh… fine." The redhead rolled off the mat, letting out a long sigh. The two went back into the main room as Sora set out breakfast.

Mulan laughed. "I never knew you could cook, Sora."

"My mom taught me. She was a great cook, and we bonded over cooking and baking."

Min and Shu came in, wearing light armor. A red dragon suddenly leapt from Shu's shoulder onto Sora's face in some sort of hug. "Sora! It's been forever!"

"Hey, Mushu." He peeled the dragon off his face. "Look, we'll have to catch up later."

"Say no more! The girls told me all about what happened, and I'm ready to help kick some bad-guy booty!"

"Thanks, Mushu."

* * *

The group took horses to an encampment of men outside the city in which Mulan and her family lived. One of the men grinned at the sight of them. "Well, again the children of the famous Mulan and Shang grace us with their presence, and with their mother as well."

"You do not speak to my daughters." The female warrior stepped down from her horse. "I am here to ask about a boy in strange clothes that you have been in contact with. I must speak with him at once. Do you know where he is?"

The man stroked his beard. "Our new friend has gone off on personal business. He does not tell us where he goes, and we do not ask."

"When he returns, I would like to speak with him."

As this conversation continued, Patria slipped off her horse and into a nearby set of bushes. Sora saw her go but said nothing as he didn't want to draw attention to them. Mushu slithered after her.

Patria ducked behind a broken cart, waiting for the conversation to end when a red face popped into her vision. "What do you think you're doing, missy?"

"Get out of here, lizard-breath. I'm looking for Cander."

"Now, lookie here," He let out a puff of fire. "I've been with those two girls for days and I know a little more about these wackos than you. The came with their king, who is meeting with The Emperor and we're trying not to go to war. Now you, bein' all sneaky-like might just get us in trouble."

Patria flicked him in the face. "I just want Cander. I don't care about them. And since when were you sensible. Dad says you were just as bad as he was."

"Well, first of all, I have spent years helping raise two crazy kids into lovely young ladies, and second, Sora would never say something like that about me."

"If he was high on painkillers after dental surgery he might…"

"What?"

"Never mind."

* * *

"Where did Patria go?"

Sora sighed. "She slipped into the bushes. Knowing her, she's probably going to wait for Cander to show up and then try to take him on herself."

"We need to go get her then." Min turned her horse around. "They'll think she's a spy if they catch her."

"And if we rat her out, they'll really think she's a spy." Shu grabbed her sister's arm. "Māma, what should we do?"

"We do nothing."

Sora turned around, looking back at the camp. "I can stay here and wait for her to get back or bail her out of trouble if I need to. I have armor that would conceal my identity(4) if need be."

"Alright."

* * *

Patria waited in the bushes, listening and waiting for any sign of the dark wizard. Night fell, but she stayed alert. Something swished in the darkness, and a boy appeared from the darkness.

Cander straightened his robes, putting his wand away. Mushu looked at him. "That must be the creep."

"Yeah, it is." Patria summoned her Keyblade, waiting until the wizard came closer before leaping out at him.

Cander saw her coming a second before her weapon collided with his head. He whipped out his wand. " _Bombarda!_ (5)" The explosion threw the girl back.

"You call that fire!" Mushu shot fire from his mouth, driving the wizard back.

" _Alarte Ascendare!_ (6)" The dragon flew skyward, screaming. Patria leapt back in, slamming Cander against a tree. He stared up at his assailant. "Looking for your brother, Patria?"

"Where is he!?" She pushed harder against him.

The wizard chuckled raspily. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

Patria moved to speak again, but an arrow clipped her arm. "Well, look who's here!" The girl turned to see some of the traders. "Wasn't she with Mulan and the others?"

"Look, here." She growled at the traders. "I just want him! I have no quarrel with all of you."

A young man stepped through the crowd. "However, he is my honored guest and attacking him is like attacking one of my men."

"He is working with people who kidnapped my brother! I need him to talk!"

As this went on, Cander slipped his wand around, pointing it at the girl. Mushu suddenly spotted this. "Patria move!"

" _Avada Kedavra!_ "

Patria lunged out of the way just in time. The spell shot past her; the soldiers also dodged, and the spell hit a tree. "Mushu! We're out of here!" Her eyes turned, fixing on Cander. "I'll be back for you…"

* * *

Sora looked over as Mushu and his daughter came up the hill. "I could've told you that it was going to bring trouble."

"Shut up, Dad." She climbed onto her horse which Sora kept him while he waited.

As they rode back, Sora glared at his child. "Patria, you are going to cause so much trouble. You might have started a war!"

"Uh, I was just after Cander, not those other guys"

"Excuse me!" Mushu snapped. "You heard what that guy said, attacking Cander is like attacking them."

Sora groaned. "Patria… you know not to interfere…"

"Oh, don't give me that speech. You interfered all the time." the girl gave her father a searing glare.

"Yes, but I didn't single-handedly start a war!"

At those words, his daughter's face fell. "Look, I'm sorry. I just want to find Pith. If I have to go apologize and accept all responsibility, I will. I don't want a war to start either."

"Alright." the man smiled. His heart soared when his daughter took responsibility for her actions, no matter how crazy they were. "We'll come back first thing in the morning."

"Ok."

* * *

Patria laid down on the temporary bed. Everyone else still sat around the table eating supper, but after all the glares of annoyance, she didn't care enough to stick around.

" _How does it feel to be an instrument of darkness?_ "

"You know I didn't mean to cause trouble like this." The girl rolled over, closing her eyes in an attempt to block out her mental assailant. "And I'll fix it. I did what I did for a personal reason, not because of any political thing. I'll apologize, try and fix my mistakes, and I'm certain they'll be willing to listen."

The voice said nothing for some time, giving Patria the feeling that she'd finally, for once, shut him up. " _You are not going to make this easy for me, are you, Patria? Well then, I'll just have to take matters into my own hands._ "

* * *

Cander sat down against a tree watching his temporary allies. "You know," he looked up and saw Braig in the tree above him, "that girl is going to cause me trouble."

"Not really because we have a plan." The man jumped down.

Braig's eye turned black and his voice deepened. " _Cander, we are going to start a war. I need you to do something for me. It will create the conflict we need, and all blame will fall on Patria's head._ "

"Oh?" Cander's eyes sparkled with excitement at the prospects of war. "Will there be bloodshed, broken hearts, and pain?" His leader nodded. "Good. Now, what do you need me to do?"

* * *

Pith's eyes slowly opened again as the sounds of fighting filled his ears. "You witch! I told you not to use magic!" Xext stood in the cell, holding Angel by her hair before slapping her across the face. "You knew what would happen if you disobeyed!"

"Please!" She begged. "I was just trying to help! I had to heal him! He was going to bleed out! Brother! Stop!"

Her twin threw her into the cell wall. "Fine. But if you use magic again, I'll make sure you suffer long and slowly." Xext vanished into a dark corridor.

"A-Angel?" Pith tried to sit up. The pain in his back lessened, but still stung with every movement.

The girl looked up at him, the hair over her face drooping so her golden eye could be seen. "You're awake." She crawled to his side. "How do you feel?"

"My back is still sore, but not as bad."

"Good. I managed to slightly heal your back to prevent you from bleeding out, but the wounds are still severe." She gently pushed him down, so he laid on his stomach.

He looked at the purple bruise beginning to appear on her cheek. "Why did he do that?"

"The cell has a spell on it to inform my brother and the others if we use magic in here. I knew they would find out, but I figured since they wanted you alive they wouldn't be too mad." She unwound the bandages on his back. "You need to eat before I work on your injuries." Angel reached over, pulling a tray to them. Slowly, she fed the boy, helping him slightly sit up so he could swallow the food properly.

"Thank you so much." Pith smiled. "You really live up to your name."

"Don't thank me…" she grabbed her old jacket and took part of the blood-soaked portion and wiped up some blood from the ground, leaving only a small sliver of blood with a small hole in the top. "At least my powers don't work as magic." Her finger touched the sliver, freezing it. Now, it looked like a needle; Angel then pulled some hair from her head. "The wounds on your back need to heal. I will have to sew them closed. I'm sorry that I don't have a proper needle and thread, and that this is going to hurt."

Pith gave a tiny smile. "I don't mind pain. Just do it. I'll be fine."

"If you say so." She threaded a strand of her hair into the needle and began to sew the wounds shut.

* * *

 **I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!**

 **Please review!**

* * *

 _If you are interested in following my other writings (fanfictions, short stories, and upcoming novel) and/or my art, you can look for me on Deviantart (KristenKHVerne), Tumblr (Kristen Verne), Facebook (Kristen Verne), Instagram (Kristen Verne), or Twitter (Kristen Verne)._

* * *

Footnotes

(1) I named them Min and Shu because of the first letters of their names, the same as their parents.

(2) This is supposed to mean from Singapore or a nation around that area.

(3) This is the pinyin for the Chinese word for "father", 爸爸. And I have put the pinyin for "mother" in here too, 妈妈.

(4) Sora has probably received armor from Yen Sid by now.

(5) Creates a bomb-like explosion.

(6) Makes the target fly into the air.

* * *

 _VAs:_

 _Li Min- Jennie Kwan (Suki, Enice, Nori Sakurada, Miria Harvent)_

 _Li Shu- Lucy Liu (Viper, Silvermist, Princess Mei, Sio, Alex)_

* * *

 **Anxiety**

In today's time, anxiety is something that so many people deal with, including me.

I understand how it feels to be so worried and panicky about something. For me, it is social anxiety. And I am in a financial struggle which brings on anxiety.

I've learned much in these last few weeks, and Philippians 4:6 sums up everything that I've learned. " _Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God._ "

When we give our worries to God, we don't have to worry because He has them now. Even my social anxiety, I give it to Him and trust that He is with me when I feel alone and He will give me the friends I need and will give me the courage to step out of my comfort zone.

He can do the same for you.


	6. Chapter 5: Land of Dragons- Blackmail

**Hi!**

 **I hope you guys are having a great day!**

 **Enjoy the chapter!**

 **Kingdom Hearts © to Disney and Square Enix!**

 **OCs © to me!**

* * *

 **Chapter 5: Land of Dragons- Blackmail**

* * *

Patria yawned. The nightmares of the night seemed lessened for the first time in months. While she felt amazing and very refreshed, something didn't seem right. If _he_ was leaving her alone, then he must be planning something.

She changed quickly, giving her hair a quick brush to the side before stepping out into the main room of the house. Everyone else sat there. She quickly noticed the strange air in the room, especially when everyone turned on her, their eyes glowing with anger.

"What did I do now to deserve the death-glares?"

Sora stood up, storming over to his daughter. "Where is it?"

"Where's what!?"

"The gold that those traders found missing this morning from the tent near where you were hiding."

Patria raised an eyebrow. "Uh, I never touched anything of theirs. I sat behind that bush and that's all. Where's Mushu, he can vouch for me!"

"He's asleep." Sora huffed. "We just had a visitor from the traders on behalf of the visiting princes: Rajesh and Rakesh. They say that you should return the stolen goods or they will declare war on this land."

"I didn't steal anything!"

"What's going on?" Mushu slithered into the room.

Mulan looked down at the guardian. "Mushu, the traders said that Patria stole something from them. She denies it. Did she steal something?"

"Uh, she never moved from behind that bush." The dragon puffed.

Shang looked over at Sora's daughter. "Then, why blame you?"

"I bet it's that Cander guy!" Max piped up.

"Yeah!" Hikari nodded. "He hates us and would love to get us in trouble."

Kairi held up her hand to silence the room. "Even if Patria didn't steal anything, the two princes think that she did, and until we find the real culprit, their threat still stands."

"Well then," Patria shoved some food into her pockets, "I'm going to find Cander and the crud he stole. Who's with me?"

"I'll go…" Kairi laid her hand on Patria's shoulder. "Come on." The two redheads quickly left the room.

Min followed them out, waiting at the door for a moment before turning back. "Bàba, Māma. The advisor of those princes is back."

"Bring him in."

The girl walked back into the room followed by a woman in a robe. "Ah, General Li. A pleasure to see you once more."

"What do you want, Jaya?"

"I saw the girl who stole our gold leaving. I wonder where she is off to?"

"Jaya," Sora stepped up beside Shang. "My daughter claims that she is framed. We also have a witness saying that she didn't steal anything, so my wife and daughter are trying to find the real culprit."

The woman looked around the room, lips pursed in a stern expression. "I see. Well, my princes wish to give you an offer if this search for a… different thief falls through. Rather than sending this land and mine into war, the princes would be willing to overlook this blatant show of disrespect if you give them your daughters to be their wives."

"WHAT!?"

"Absolutely not!" Mulan stepped in front of Min and Shu.

"It's either that or we go to war."

Max jumped up. "You were so quick to blame one of us. Why not look at the stranger you let into your own home?"

"You mean Cander?" Jaya raised an eyebrow. "You are all obsessed with him aren't you?"

Taking a deep breath, Sora glared at her. "Well, he is part of a group that captured my son. He knows where my son is, and if there is anyone who would want to frame us, it's him. How do you even know you can trust him?"

"That is our business. Now, I must report back to my princes. I will return this evening to see if this other thief has been caught, or if you agreed to our terms." Turning on her heel, the woman strode out, head high and confident that she would have what she asked for.

P.J. rubbed the back of his head, looking over at Hikari. "What do we do now…?"

"We wait on Kairi and Patria."

* * *

"Patria, we're all worried about Pith."

The younger redhead rolled her eyes. "I get that, but I am willing to pull out all the stops to find him again, are you?"

"Patria," Kairi grabbed her daughter's arm, making the girl look at her.

"What!?"

The Princess of Heart stared into the angry eyes of her child before pulling Patria into a hug. "I know you're scared… You're angry, you're hurt. Please, don't shut us out. Let us help you. You're not alone, and you don't have to face all this evil by yourself."

"Mom…" Patria felt an itching sensation in the corners of her eyes as fresh tears threatened to spill over.

" _Leave. Now_." The dark voice in Patria's mind commanded, sounding angry. " _Go, or I will use your darkness to kill your mother._ "

"Thanks, Mom…" at the threat, the girl pulled back. "Look, let's split up. We can search for Cander easier that way." Without waiting for any sort of reply, she turned, hurriedly leaving her mother behind. "What the heck!?" She hissed at the voice. It didn't answer. "What!? You threatened to kill my mom, and now you have nothing to say."

" _Foolish people! Greed and power always so tantalizing_."

After a moment, the girl laughed. "Did your plan not work how you wanted it to? Good. Now, I'm going to find Cander." She strode away. Suddenly, dark wisps curled up her legs freezing her in place.

" _How dare you mock me!?_ "

"Patria!" Kairi came running, grabbing her daughter's arm. A flash of light drove the wisps from the girl's legs. "Are you alright? What happened?"

Patria let out a quiet sigh of relief. "I'm fine. I was just walking and then this darkness grabbed me. I bet it's Cander's doing." A grateful smile came to her lips, covering up the lie she just told.

"I don't think we should split up, sweetheart." Kairi smiled. "Let's stay together."

"Alright, Mom." Patria sighed.

The woman nodded. "Let's see if this can help." She pulled out the tracker from Yensid.

Patria stared at the tiny object, mouth open. "Oh, I'm an idiot." she swiped the object away. "Let's go…"

* * *

Pith rolled onto his side, looking over at Angel. "Thank you again… sorry about your dress."

"It's no trouble. I had to help you." The girl looked down at her white dress, now stained with blood. "Looks like both of us need a change of clothes."

"That's why I'm here."

A Tech Elf with teal skin and platinum blonde hair, wearing a kimono, stood by the cell door with two parcels. Pith smiled slightly. "Lyla…"

The elf tossed the parcels through the bars. "Sorry, for breaking into your home, Pith, but there's a change of clothes. Just wait until Angel's not looking."

"Of course."

The elf nodded and left. Angel grabbed the smaller parcel. "I-I'll go to the back corner." Pith closed his eyes as the girl changed, coming back to his side moments later. "You can look now."

"Alright." He looked into her red and golden eyes. "I guess I'll have to wait until I can really move again."

"Guess so."

The girl sat on the ground, curling up on herself. Soon, her breath quieted, as she'd fallen asleep. Slowly, two wings came from her back, wrapping around the girl like her own personal blanket.

Pith closed his eyes pulling himself away from his puddle of blood; the dried, crusty substance flaking off as he slowly moved, trying not to pull out the stitches in his back. When he closed his eyes, he saw his home, the bright islands. He could see his family smiling at him, even his sister.

He could almost hear them talking. Saying how they would find him no matter what it took. With these thoughts in his mind, Pith smiled. He had nothing to do now but sleep, and so he did just that.

* * *

"Shang, what are you going to do?"

Mulan and Shang looked at one another. "I don't know…"

"We do what they asked," Shu stood up. "Māma, it will take time for them to set up the wedding, or take to their land. If we agree to their terms if Mrs. Kairi and Patria can't find the other guy, we can buy them time."

Min nodded. "We'll do what we have to!"

"Uh, not happening!" Mushu huffed.

"We can buy time!"

Mulan wrapped her arms around the two girls. "We don't want anything to happen to you. But…"

"Mulan, you can't be thinking…"

"I am, Shang." She sighed. "The girls are right. We can buy time. If we say we agree, you and I can insist that we talk with the princes about the wedding and that can give them even more time."

Max grinned. "And we can help search for Cander."

"Yeah," Hikari summoned her Keyblade.

Shang looked from his friends to his family. "I hate to admit it, but I guess that's the best plan we have right now. Let's just hope Kairi and Patria find Cander first."

* * *

Patria walked alongside her mother. Suddenly she stopped at the sound of voices in her head. One voice she knew as her assailant, but the other…

"Braig…?"

"What is it, sweetie?"

"Nothing." She sat down. "Give me a sec to rest. I've got a headache." She placed a hand on her head and closed her eyes.

She heard the two voices conversing quietly. But why? As she listened, the voices became clearer

" _We will have to act…_ " Her regular assailant's voice spoke, his voice laced with anger.

Braig's voice came next. " _Hey, Cander did what you asked. You wanted to start a war, and he set it up perfectly. Those stupid princes screwed it up!_ "

" _Greedy men… sometimes they are useful, but sometimes they mess up plans. If they had merely declared war instead of asking for the marriage to the two girls we wouldn't be having this conversation!_ "

Patria grinned. So, he'd tried to start a war, but the princes decided to do something different. Suddenly her eyes widened as realization set in. Her mental attacker set Braig on this warpath. He probably orchestrated Pith's kidnapping too! They were working together!

Why could she hear them? She hadn't been able to before. Unless… Unless Braig was nearby.

"Mom, give me the shard, please." Kairi handed it to Patria, and the shard immediately began blinking. "I had a feeling that he was nearby."

Her mother raised an eyebrow. "Why didn't it go off before?"

"Don't question good things! Let's just go!" She jumped up, running after the blinking object. Her mother followed behind as they hurried out of town and into a grove of trees.

Patria's heart beat faster and faster as the voices in her mind became clearer. She attempted to keep her own thoughts separate and nonexistent in order to keep her presence quiet.

" _I know you're coming…_ "

She didn't answer him but kept running. As they came into a clearing, Braig stood with his back to them. Kairi gasped. "Braig!?"

"Well, Princess!" He turned, single eye glinting with a sadistic joy. "Looks like you and Little Red managed to find me." He noticed the tracker. "Old Yensid give you that?"

"Where's my son!" Kairi summoned her Keyblade, fist clenching around the weapon.

Braig's eye turned black, and a deep voice spoke. " _He's alive for now_."

"You… you're the one who…"

" _Used Xehanort, brought him back to life, and gave him the means to capture you the other guardians? Yes, that was me._ "

His voice faded and Braig's came back. "Now, we have work to do, so have fun with these friends of his." The man warped away. In his place appeared a group of Heartless, neither of the women had seen before.

They seemed humanoid in nature. While resembling pureblood's they also wore pants, hats, and gloves. Long wings stretched out behind them. The lead Heartless raised a clawed hand. "Kill them, Darklings(1)!"

"Never seen a Heartless talk before." Patria summoned Fencing Fury and moved to skewer one of the Darklings on the end of it.

Kairi slashed at one. "I have… Ansem, Xehanort's Heartless. But these are not him, but they do seem almost, human in a strange way."

One of the Heartless snickered. "You are like us. We once wielded keys, but now the darkness holds us."

"... These were Keyblade wielders."

* * *

Sora stood with the others, looking over the camp. "Uncle Sora," Hikari asked, "why are we here? We still have time before the agreement."

"I know, but I just have a bad feeling." He narrowed his eyes at a grove of trees that shook slightly though there was no wind.

Out from the bushes burst Heartless, Darklings, which charged into the camp, slaughtering at will. "Heartless!"

"Hikari, you three get down there and take them out!" The Disney Town residents nodded and ran down, weapons at the ready. Sora turned to the trees and ran in.

Hikari sliced a Darkling apart. "Max! Find the princes and protect them!"

"Got it, Kari!" He dropped his shield/skateboard and rode it towards the center of camp, slamming into Heartless as he went.

"Peej, make a wall to keep them back!"

The cat hefted up his hammer. "On it!" The hammer began to glow as he slammed it into the ground. Rocks jutted up around the camp, cutting off the approaching Heartless, which began to climb the rocks as fast as they could.

"This doesn't make sense," P.J. looked at his friend. "If Cander was working with these guys, why is he trying to kill them now?"

Hikari blew some Heartless off the rocks with a blast of Fire magic. "Don't know…"

* * *

Sora peaked through the bushes and saw the young wizard standing in a place where he could watch the carnage of the camp. The older man moved to attack, but the boy spoke. "You're getting careless in your old age. _Firestorm_!" He turned, a wave of fire shooting from his wand.

Sora dove out of the way, casting Shieldza. "So, you're the wizard, Cander?"

"And you're the Hero of Light." The boy smirked. "I'm not that impressed."

"Neither am I!"

Sora charged, the boy moving out of the way quickly. Cander pointed his wand at the ground beneath the feet of his assailant. " _Orbis_!"

The ground opened up and the older man quickly used Aero to launching himself up as the ground moved to swallow him whole. "Where's my son!?"

"Not telling!"

"Why attack the camp? I thought you were on their side!"

"I was," the wizard scowled, "but they screwed it up when they asked for the wedding. We wanted war, and they offered an out, so now they die."

"Not happening!" Sora Slipped in, slamming the boy against a tree, knocking his wand away. "Now, where is my son?"

"I'd tell you… but then you would be unable to help the Disney Town princess and her friends when the Heartless kill them. There are too many Heartless for them to handle."

Sora's eyes narrowed. Before the boy could say anything, the man slammed the Keyblade handle into his head, knocking the boy unconscious. The man saw a glint of gold in his pocket. When he pulled it out, it was the gold stolen from the princes; Sora shoved it in his pocket and turned to go.

He ran down to where the Heartless surrounded the camp. Gripped his Keyblade tightly. While it appeared as Kingdom Key, a light flashed and it melted away to reveal Key to the Kingdom(2). He leapt over the rock barrier, holding up the weapon as it glowed brightly. "Kari! You and the others get behind me!" The kids ran behind, and Sora reached for another sword, a katana, hanging from his waist which began glowing with an orange-brown light. With the two swords in hand, he brought them together, their glows mixing. "Oukoku, Kaname… give me strength.(3)" He stabbed both swords into the ground. "FURY OF MORNING LIGHT!"

A shockwave of light shot out in every direction, evaporating the Heartless immediately. Sora stood up, wobbling before he fell down, the swords clattering to his side.

"Uncle Sora!"

"Mr. Kumo!"

The three ran to his side, though Max seemed more excited than nervous for his wellbeing. "That was awesome!"

"Yeah… but I'm going to need some painkillers and a very long nap."

* * *

"The princes apologize for their actions, and for blaming your guest for the theft."

"We accept the apology, Jaya." Shang and Mulan bowed. "We hope that your people have a safe journey home."

The woman did not answer, but turned and strutted away. The moment she left Mushu let out a burst of fire. "Whooo! Shu and Min aren't going anywhere!"

"Sora, thank you." Mulan hugged her old friend. "You have helped us once again. All of you, thank you for the help."

"It was no trouble Mulan, but I just wish we'd captured Cander."

Patria crossed her arms. "What the heck happened to him?"

"I left him unconscious, and he was gone when I came back." Her dad shrugged.

"We'll catch him or one of his friends eventually. I know it!"

"Yeah."

* * *

Angel's wings unwrapped, folding back into her skin. She didn't even order them to protect her; they'd done this since she was a child, being the only protection she had against her mother and brother.

She yawned and looked around. Pith lay still, but breathing softly and evenly.

The girl got up and laid out his clean clothes, neatly folded, beside him. She grabbed his bloody shirt, which lay beside him, and folded it nicely before laying it against the cell bars. She then did the same with her bloody dress.

As she worked, her stomach gurgled and snarled. She hadn't eaten but gave Pith all the food she had as well as water. He needed it more than she did, and she was half Venefilba, so she didn't need as much food and water as often, but she would eventually die without it.

Maybe she wanted that.

To be free of all the pain of her life.

But then, Pith would be here in this hell all alone. As much as she disliked her own life here, she refused to leave him alone. For the first time in her life, she had someone to protect, and she would take care of them.

* * *

Patria laid in bed, grinning at the silence from her assailant. She had an advantage, and he knew it, but she didn't care. It was an advantage she would use whenever she could.

He was working with Braig and if she was nearby, she could hear their conversation. Perhaps having this loser in her head would work to their advantage. All Patria had to do was wait and listen for when he slipped up and told her something she wanted to know.

And she was a patient person…

* * *

 **Please Review!**

* * *

Footnotes:

(1) Darklings are the Heartless from KHUX that are supposed to be Keyblade wielders who fell to the darkness.

(2) This Keyblade originally belonged to Oukoku Gatsu.

(3) This is kinda a D-link thing he can do now.

* * *

 _VA:_

 _Lyla- Trina Nishimura (Lan Fan, Rinka Hayami, Miskasa Ackerman, Ran-Mao)_

* * *

 **Pure Joy**

Now that the two new KH3 trailers came out recently, and there was so much excitement. I myself freaked out, giving myself a headache as I held in my screams so as to not wake the others in my dorm. As joyful as the trailers made me and so many of you, there is an even greater joy to be found in God.

Romans 15:13 says, " _May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him so that you overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit._ "

There are many verses on joy in the Bible and I encourage you to go look more of them up. A verse of joy every day will show you the joy that comes from God that you can have!


	7. Chapter 6: Olympus Coliseum- Grill

**I had to revamp my world order again.**

 **I was going to have Neverland here, but I forgot that Terra and Aqua are adults. So, had to change it.**

 **I hope you guys enjoy this!**

 **Kingdom Hearts © to Disney and Square Enix!**

 **Luna © to Nintendoman01!**

 **Other OCs © to me!**

* * *

 **Chapter 6: Olympus Coliseum- Grill**

* * *

Luna and Glacies sparred in the training room of the gummi ship, dancing around each other as Keyblade clashed against katana. "Tell me," the elf jumped back, "how are the elves who still live in Hazy Hamlet?"

"Wonderful. They are don't amazing, especially since my uncle was voted in as president, and his wife is an elf."

"Great!"

The young master lowered her weapon and motioned for Luna to come closer before whispering, "Actually, I'm courting one of the elves who stayed behind."

"That's wonderful!"

Terra stepped into the room to find the girls giggling. "Oh, that's never a good sign." He smiled. "We're coming up on Olympus Coliseum. We want to make sure that Pith is still alive. While that is not a great thought, but we just want to be sure."

"I understand, Dad."

The man walked up to the front where Ryô and Justin sat watching Xally bounce, her short pink kimono bouncing with her. "I can't wait to see Creon!"

"Neither can I, so I can scare the living daylights out of him."

"Dad!" Xally turned on Terra. "Leave him alone!"

"Maybe I will, maybe I won't."

Justin smiled, but his heart felt heavy in his chest. He remembered the events of their last visit and the thought came back to him. He owed Hades a debt. "Master I…"

"I remember Justin. Don't worry. We'll deal with that when we have to." He patted the boy on the back. His eyes traveled to his wife, who nodded to him, the unspoken agreement passing between them.

* * *

When they landed, everything seemed normal. Terra and Aqua smiled, all the old memories of this place coming back to them. "It's been far too long since we've been here."

"I know." Terra and Aqua walked briskly towards the door to the coliseum with the others following.

Stepping inside, they looked around the building. It looked bigger than the old coliseum, with more room for combatants to wait between matches. People walked around, looking at statues of heroes and trophies won. A weapons vendor stood near the other end by an area full of benches. A few warriors sat, apparently waiting for their turn to fight. Food and drink vendors stood on either side, selling to the patrons and warriors.(1)

"Wow," Ryô gaped. "They really upgraded this place since we were last here."

"No kidding!"

A young man with curly chestnut hair came in from the arena, strapping a sword to his waist. He looked up, his eyes meeting Xally's. A huge grin spread across his face. "Xally!"

"Creon!" Her eyes glimmered as he ran to her, clasping her arms happily before hugging her. "I've missed you."

"I missed you too!" He pulled back looking her over. "You cut your hair?"

"D-do you like it?"

"I do. I really do."

The two turned as Terra cleared his throat. "Hello."

"Uh, hi, sir." Creon smiled, holding out a hand. "My name's Creontiades or Creon for short."

"Do you know who I am?"

"You're…"

"I'm Xally's father."

Creon's face paled as he pulled his hand back. "N-nice to meet you, sir."

"Hey! Well, would you look at this!" Phil came walking towards them followed by two orange-haired boys. "Terra, Aqua, is that you?"

"Phil!" The couple grinned happily at the satyr.

"Look at you two! All grown up." He smiled. "You look good considering you were missing last year."

Aqua lightly laughed. "And who are these boys? I assume that they're Meg and Herc's other sons."

"Yes, ma'am." The tallest boy nodded. "My name is Therimachus, but you can call me Machus. This is my younger brother, Deicoon or Coon(2). And you're Terra and Aqua. Mom and Dad told us about you."

"I'm sure they did." Terra smiled warmly, but as soon as Creon grinned, his face hardened.

Creon cringed and turned to his brothers. "Uh, where's Dad?"

"He had to go do some hero thing, and Mom's down at the market."

"I'll go find Mom then…" The boy hurried off.

Before her dad could say a word, Xally ran after him. "I'm going with Creon!"

"No, you're not!" But the two disappeared out the door.

Luna sighed, shaking her head. "I don't think there's much point to holding her back. She's just a child, and this is her first crush. She will be safe with him, but we do have work to do, Mr. Petra."

Terra looked at the elf and looked as if he wanted to say something but decided against it. "I don't like it, but you're right."

"Oooooooh!" Coon beamed. "You're Xally's dad. No wonder our brother ran off."

"He's just overprotective," Glacies admitted.

Ryô coughed into his hand. "Machus, Coon, we were wondering if you could help us with something."

"What is it?"

"We'll do whatever we can to help."

The blond boy adjusted the cape over his shoulder and sighed. "We, need to get to the underworld."

"Why?" Phil stomped his hooves nervously. His eyes darted around, noting the concerned glances from those who heard Ryô. "We've stayed away from that dark, dank, dead place."

Aqua knelt down beside the satyr. "I know it isn't convenient, but we really need to get down there and talk to Hades. It's important. If you want to wait until Hercules gets back we can, as long as it doesn't take too long. The life of Sora and Kairi's son is at stake."

At these words, Phil looked up at her and nodded. "I'll call him back here and we'll get going."

"Thank you, Phil."

* * *

Xally giggled as she walked beside Creon. "Hey, sorry about my dad."

"You never mentioned he was so terrifying."

"To me, he isn't," she sighed. "He's just protective, that's all. I know he's just worried about me and he wants to take care of me."

The young warrior took her hand in his. "Well then, I guess I'll just have to prove to him that he has nothing to worry about."

"Sounds good."

* * *

On the world of Traverse Town, Vanitas trudged home after work(3). He hated cleaning that school. The kids were rude to him and sometimes left messes on purpose for him to clean up.

He'd begun looking for another job and applied to be a street enforcer in the more dangerous parts of town(4). At least he'd get to take out some anger on some punks over there, and the Unversed would really help.

He opened the door to his house, smiling at the sight of little Vanette sitting on the couch with Akame in her lap. She sat beside a boy a year older than her. Vanitas tensed at the sight of him, even though the boy had been by before. He was the president of the Photography club: Okko Artois(5).

Vanitas hated him. He hated his pastel-blue hair, his even bluer eyes, both of which Vanette made sure to point out and call 'pretty'. He hated everything about the kid. The boy claimed to be helping her with her camera and help with studying.

The Flood in his daughter's lap stared up at the boy, every muscle tense, ready to pounce and destroy the boy if he did anything wrong.

"Hi, Papa!"

"Hello, Mr. Ater."

Vanitas huffed. "Hey, Nettie." He walked into the kitchen where Alya sat at the table, sewing a flower pattern into some black fabric. "Hi, Alya." He bent down and kissed her pale, blue-white hair.

"Hello, darling. How was work?"

"Annoying."

She shook her head, smiling. "And I can tell you're not happy about Okko."

"Why would I?" He sat down. "He's a boy, and he likes our daughter."

"He's her friend, that's all. You're just paranoid. This isn't Hazy Hamlet."

"That doesn't mean I have to trust every boy that comes near her."

Alya let out a long sigh. "He's heading home soon. Anyways, you, Nettie, and I have to talk."

"About?"

"What Terra and the others came to see you about." She turned up, looking into his golden eyes. "About Pith."

Vanitas looked up at her. "Honey, you know that I can't…"

"We will talk about this when Vanette is done."

Just as she finished speaking, Okko came walking into the room. "I'm going on home, thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Ater."

"Thank you, Okko." The boy grinned and left.

"Good riddance."

Vanette came in, holding Akame in her arms. "Papa, don't be mean. He's my friend."

"Sorry, but I don't trust him."

Alya put her sewing down. "Honey, want to help me set up supper?

"Of course, Mama."

"Vanitas," the woman stood, "we will talk over supper."

"Fine."

* * *

Creon and Xally walked alongside Megara, helping her carry some things back to the coliseum. "My dad is going to kill you, and then me."

"Terra will be understanding." Meg smiled.

Creon nodded. "We can only hope." They stepped through the doors. The sun hung low, and the coliseum held no patrons anymore. They all went home for the night. When they came inside, Terra and the others stood inside with Phil, Hercules, and his sons. "We're back!"

"It's about time." Terra's voice held a twinge of annoyance, and they all knew it was held for Creon.

Hercules smiled slightly, shaking his head. "Meg, the boys and I are going with Terra and the others to the Underworld."

"Have fun with that." She huffed. "I've been in that place too many times for my liking. I'll be waiting."

Hercules nodded. "Creon, get a sword and shield. You have five minutes before we leave."

"Yes, sir."

Less than an hour later, they all found themselves standing at the top of a staircase, looking down into the darkness of the Underworld. "Well, this is creepy." Luna gripped the hilt of her katana. "Prince Ryô, stay close to me. I will protect you."

"I can take care of myself."

"You are still my responsibility," she laid a light yellow hand on his shoulder.

"Fine."

They slowly walked into the Underworld, the darkness closing around them, sending chills up all their spines. The air became enclosed, making breathing hard for everyone. Coon sighed. "Well, this place is dead, in more ways than one."

"Coon, not the time."

Hercules looked around. "Hades' throne room is over that way. Follow me." He led them across the black landscape and into a tunnel.

"I honestly did not miss this place."

"Neither did I, Terra."

Xally and Justin shuddered. "I don't like how this place feels."

"Same…" Xally jumped as Creon laid his hand on her shoulder.

"Stay close to me."

The mist grew thicker as they walked towards the throne room. Little white lights appeared around them, whispering quietly to them, though none could really understand what was being said.

Heartless, Trick Ghosts, Hook Bats, and Rabid Dogs appeared as well, but with a group as large as theirs, the creatures stood no chance.

The chamber opened up into a large cavern with a small walkway across a writhing lagoon of green mist and corpses. Justin and Xally gasped, a wave of voices penetrating their thoughts.

"Kids?" Aqua pulled her two children close, waiting for the pain and voices to slow down and fall under their control. Eventually, the two managed to push them out. "Are you alright?"

"We're fine, Mom. Let's just find Hades…"

Slowly, they walked across the thin walkway, keeping as close to the center as possible until they reached the other side and stood directly in front of Hades' throne room. Hercules reached for the doors, only for them to swing open on their own.

Hades, Lord of the Dead, sat in his throne, rotten, sharp teeth stuck in a sickly grin. "Ah, there you are. I've been waiting on you." His eyes fixed on Justin, his smile widening even more. "Especially you, kiddo. I believe we have business to attend to."

* * *

 **I didn't know where to end this chapter, so why not here?**

 **Please review!**

* * *

Footnotes:

(1) I figured they'd eventually upgrade.

(2) For those who don't know, Therimachus, Deicoon, and Creontiades are the names of Hercules and Megara's children in myth.

(3) In the chapters with Sora's group, we will keep up with Pith, and in the chapters with Terra's group, we will keep up with Vanitas and Ven.

(4) The backstreet area from DDD.

(5) Okko means blue and Artois means artist.

* * *

 _VAs:_

 _Therimachus- Yuri Lowenthal (Superman, Sasuke Uchiha, Ben Tennyson, Cecil Harvey)_

 _Deicoon- Andy Milder (Lightning Lad, Ratso, Flash/Jay Garrick, Quillfire)_

 _Creontiades- Adam Wylie (Brainiac 5, Panicky Smurf, Peter Pan, Pierce)_

 _Okko Artois- Todd Haberkorn (Natsu, Italy, Death the Kid, Ling Yao)_

* * *

 **Hope**

I know a lot has been going on in the world right now, good and bad. One might wonder where hope could exist in a world like this. But there is still hope in all this pain and suffering.

2 Corinthians 1:10 says, " _He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again._ "

Paul, being the man who endured horrible situations normally would not be the one, you would think, to give messages of hope, but he is. If a man like him who had endured so much could find hope, then we can too.

It isn't easy and we can't do it on our own. However, God can give us the hope we seek for if we only ask.


	8. Chapter 7: Olympus Coliseum- Hog Hunt

**Hey guys!**

 **I hope you guys like this chapter... I had a hard time with it, but I hope you like it.**

 **Kingdom Hearts (c) to Disney and Square Enix!**

* * *

 **Chapter 7: Olympus Coliseum- Hog Hunt**

* * *

Terra stepped between Hades and Justin. "Hades, leave Justin out of this! We need to talk with you!"

"Oh?" the god of the Underworld smirked. "What about?"

"Pith Kumo."

Aqua stepped forward. "We want to know if Pith Kumo is here."

"Hm? Keyboy and Cherry Tart's brat?" Hades stood up, pacing slightly around the room before he paused. "I have an answer for you, but you should know by now that I don't just give away anything for free. Why don't we make a deal?"

Luna growled, pointing her sword at the god. "We do not make deals with scum like you!"

The lord of the dead vanished in smoke before appearing beside Justin, his arm snaking around the boy's shoulders. "The thing is, this boy and I had an agreement before, and I never collected."

"Leave me alone!" Justin jerked his shoulder away.

"Too bad, kid. We had a deal, and it's time to pay up. So, I'll be taking your soul now." Hades grinned, wisps of darkness rising up around the boy.

"Justin!" Terra grabbed his student, pulling him out of the dark tendrils as Aqua summoned her Keyblade, blocking the god from her student.

"How dare you!? Leave our son alone!"

"Hey, you want to blame anyone, blame the kid. He made the deal. And, if you want that juicy piece of information about that Pith kid, then you will let me collect from him." Hades leaned against the wall, sharp, gray teeth turning into a sickly grin at the fearful faces of some of those around him.

Coon gripped the spear in his hands, snarling. "You slime!"

"Hey, you know the rules kid. You make a deal, you keep to it."

Xally summoned her Keyblade, swiping at the Underworld lord. The attack did nothing but annoy Hades, who stared down at the girl with a flat expression as she snarled. "You leave him alone!" The god, as he turned away, flicked the girl in the forehead.

"Hades!" Hercules clenched his fist.

Suddenly, Creon cried out. "We'll make a wager!" Everyone stopped, looking at the boy who bravely strode up to his father's adversary. "You love making wagers, then let's make a new one."

"Come again, kid?"

"Let's make a wager, Hades." The boy grinned. "Give us a task that many people think to be impossible. If we manage to complete the task, you will tell Masters Terra and Aqua what they want and you will release Justin from the deal. If we lose, you not only get Justin's soul but mine as well."

"Creon!" Machus grabbed his youngest brother's arm. "You can't do that! You're gambling away your soul!"

"I know that…" The boy smiled over at Justin who nodded. "What do you think, Hades?"

Hades tapped his chin. "Hmm, I get the student of two Keyblade wielders I hate and the youngest child of my greatest rival…"

"Going once!"

"Hmm, is there a downside to this?"

"Going twice!"

"Alright, alright!" the god held up his hands. "I'll accept on one condition… when you do the task, Jerkules, Bluebird, and Earthman(1) have to sit out. Kids only."

Hercules held up a hand. "Hold up! Creon, give us all a moment to discuss this as a group." He pulled his son away and the others followed. "Creon, are you sure about this?"

"Yeah, Dad, we have to help, and this is the best way. Even if you can't help us, you could still come along. We can't let Hades take Justin's soul, so this is our best option."

Glacies cleared her throat. "I have to agree with Creon, but we have to be careful. We can't afford to lose this wager.

"Yeah," Ryô nodded. "As much as I hate doing anything so reckless or dealing with Hades in any way, it's our best option."

"Justin?" Terra looked down at his student, but he couldn't help by spare a glance at Creon. Xally held the boy's hand, and while that irked Terra, he couldn't help but be impressed by the bravery of Hercules' youngest boy.

"I want to do it." The Jedi Keybearer nodded, though his eyes held just the slightest hint of fear; this was his soul at stake. He turned back to Hades and yelled, "Hades! We have an agreement. What task do out want us to do?"

The god plopped back on his throne, smirking wickedly. "Tell me, have you ever heard of the Erymanthian Boar(2)?"

* * *

Vanitas set out three plates on the table as Vanetter ran in from the kitchen, laying a hot pad on the table before running back to get three cups full of water, but on her return trip, she walked slower, trying not to slosh water or trip over Akame who walked at her feet.

When Alya came in, carrying a steaming pot. The man smiled. "Alya, what did you make?"

"It's a recipe that Ruby, you know that herbalist from the market, gave me. It's called chicken carbonara."

"Sounds delicious."

At first, the three just ate in silence until Alya finally spoke up. "Vanitas, as I said earlier, we need to talk about the situation with Pith."

"What about it? I have a job that I can't miss, so I can't help."

His wife's gaze turned hard. "You know you can. Your job is 5 days a week, leaving two days for you to help. You can keep a watch set to the time here so you know when to come back."

"Alya…" Vanitas sighed, but his wife's stare told him that this was not up for debate. "What do you think I should do?"

"On the weekends, travel around to different worlds, seeing if you can find anything that could help. The Unversed could do the same thing during the week."

Vanitas shoved some food into his mouth as he mused over this idea. She had a point. He could help. It wasn't like he didn't care at all about the situation with Pith. He did care, but his own family came first. He inwardly knew that he could've compromised in order to help out, but that would feel like he was putting aside his own family for someone else's. Now, he had no excuses. "You're right…"

"I've already altered one of the old Organization cloaks you had lying around and added more color to it, so you can travel through the darkness." His wife smiled warmly. "I don't want you getting mistaken for an enemy."

"Thanks… are there any other ideas you had?"

Alya paused as the fork-full of food made its way towards her mouth. She lowered it down, her eyes following it. "Yes, but I know you won't like it?"

"What is it?"

"I-I," her gaze met his, "I want you to take Vanette with you."

* * *

"This is pointless!" Coon slumped over as they walked along. "We have to catch a stupid boar! What's the point?"

Hercules sighed. "Hades just wants to cause us trouble and maybe kill a few of us in the process."

"Indeed," Luna's eyes darted about, searching for any sign of danger. "I assume this won't be as easy as it initially sounds."

"No kidding. This boar is known to terrorize the local towns and the way there is blocked by centaurs."

"Centaurs?"

Creon nodded to Xally. "Half-man, half-horse, and a pain."

"They're known to be rowdy, barbaric, especially when they get alcohol in their systems(3)." Machus fingered an arrow he held between his fingers. "We will have to be cautious, especially you ladies. They can be very provocative when intoxicated."

The girls looked between one another before Glacies grinned. "We can take care of ourselves, but thanks for the concern."

"Dad," Coon piped up, "Are we going to see Pholus?"

"Who?"

Hercules looked over at Terra and answered. "A centaur friend of mine(4). He might be able to keep the other centaurs off our back."

"Sounds good."

* * *

Hades stood on a mountain, looking down at the group as they walked along. "I hope you know what you're doing, Seafoam.

"Don't call me that…" A girl with teal skin looked down. The wind ruffled her short kimono and platinum-blonde hair, her long ears twitching as her yellow eyes followed the group. "I will set the centaurs against them, have no fear. But, I am curious, why the boar? It's a meaningless task."

The god smirked. "I have had power over that pig for some time. I'll get the souls I'm owed, one way or another even if it takes a long time and a lot of planning."

The elf, Lyla, let out a long sigh. "Whatever. I'll be on my way then."

"Have fun, Seafoam."

* * *

"Pholus!" Hercules stuck his head into a cave, peering around for his old friend. "It's me, Hercules!"

No answer came.

"Guess he's not home."

"On the contrary," came a deep, gravelly voice from behind, "I just stepped out for a moment." All turned to see a centaur, his horse-half covered in reddish-brown hair that matched the bristly beard of his human-half. He seemed old and wise, but only his eyes showed any sign of that. He did not seem to fit the description that Machus gave of his kind. "Hercules, my old friend! It has been far too long."

"Yes, it has, Pholus. I'd like to introduce you to my friends; this is Terra, his wife Aqua, their children Glacies, Justin, and Xally, Ryô, and Luna. And these three are my sons: Therimachus, Deicoon, and Creontiades."

Pholus looked over the group, his eyes studying them each, resting longer on Luna than the others due to her unique appearance. "A pleasure. What brings you all here?"

"It's a long story…"

"Pholus, we're going after the Erymanthian Boar, and we wanted your help to get past the other centaurs." The son of Zeus glanced around slightly, seeing if any others like Pholus stood around. "We could fight them off if we had to, but we'd rather not."

Going back into his cave, Pholus motioned for them to follow. For a cave, it seemed very comfortable; an animal-skin rug covered the stone floor. A fire roared in the corner, underneath a small hole in the cave ceiling. A bed of straw sat in the corner near to chests and large jars; a long spear hung on the wall opposite the entrance. "Of course. I might be able to draw them away with wine. Just the slightest smell of it will bring them running." He placed his hand on a massive jar. "Chiron(5) put me in charge of the wine we collectively share."

A few of the kids moved closer to the jar to see; Luna's ears suddenly twitched as she heard a familiar sound. "Everyone! Get down!" She dragged Ryô to the ground and the others followed her to the ground; even Pholus ducked into a corner of his cave. An arrow made of light whizzed over their heads, shattering the large jar of wine; the burgundy liquid burst out, scattered across the ground, finding its way into any divot and crack in the stone floor or soaking up into the animal skin on the floor. A sickly sweet smell of grapes, laced with an acidic stench that stung the nose.

Luna jumped to her feet, hurrying outside. Her eyes scanned the landscape, stopping on another elf standing atop a tree, bow in hand. "Lyla." The name came out as no more than a whisper.

"Luna!" The elf turned to see her prince running out to her. "What is it?"

"Lyla is her…" She pointed, but her former friend was gone. "She was there. Lyla did this."

Ryô looked around before sighing. "We'll have to look for her later."

As soon as he finished speaking, a light rumbling echoed across the earth, growing louder every second. Pholus came galloping out of his cave, eyes wide with horror. "All of you must go. The others smell the wine; if they think you broke the jar, they will kill you. I will take care of them."

"We're gone!" Coon took off and the others followed up a nearby steep hill. Just as they moved out of sight, a herd of centaurs, hair, and eyes wild, came galloping towards Pholus' cave.

"Will Pholus be ok?"

"He'll be fine," Hercules smiled. "He can talk down his own people, but what happened anyway? The jar just shattered."

Ryô looked at his bodyguard. "Luna says she saw Lyla, and it was an arrow that broke the jar."

"Just great… one of Briana's lackeys." Xally huffed, turning to Creon. "Let's just go and get that stupid boar."

* * *

"No!"

"Vanitas, hear me out."

"I'm not taking her. She's never fought before, and I won't risk her life."

Alya folded her hands in front of her, letting out a long, deep breath. "Vanitas, you can't keep her hidden from everything. She needs to grow and learn." The mother took her child's hand. "And knowing how to fight won't hurt her. I can understand if you don't want her to have a Keyblade, but she needs to be able to take care of herself. The Unversed would be with you as well."

Vanitas held his hard stare, but Alya didn't back down. "She can't travel through the darkness."

"I altered another coat for her." Alya handed Vanette a parcel. "Vanitas, I want her to be strong, like you." Her eyes softened. "Please…"

Looking around, the man's eyes met those of his wife and daughter. "Vanette, what do you have to say on this?"

"I want to do it!" The girl's eyes matched his own in determination. "I want to go, Papa."

Vanitas let out a long sigh… "Fine."

"Yeah! Thank you, Papa!"

"But," His voice rose just a little, "I will decide what weapon you get, and you'll have to stay close to me at all times. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Papa."

"Alright, after school tomorrow, we'll go. So, get some sleep." His daughter grabbed her coat and hurried upstairs.

* * *

"How much further?"

Glacies climbed over a rock, looking back down at the others. "We're nearly there!" A tall, rocky slope seemed to swallow them all up as they climbed. Machus led the group up the hill.

"The boar lives in a tree grove at the top of this hill(6)."

As they climbed, Justin turned to Creon. "Hey, I never thanked you. If you hadn't said anything…"

"It's no trouble." The boy smiled. "I know we didn't get off on the right foot last time, but I'd love to be friends with you. Anyways, if we fail, we'll have a lot of time to talk in the afterlife."

The two boys laughed. "As nice as it would be to get to know you better, I'd like to stay alive."

"Fair enough."

They all reached the top of the hill. A grove of trees, tall and dark, loomed overhead.

Terra summoned his Keyblade. "Everyone, be ready."

Weapons came out, glistening in the light as they stepped into the trees. The air clung to the silence, hanging thickly from the trees. Light filtered through the leaves, creating spotty patches of light across the soft turf. No sound came but the whistle of the wind through the leaves, which shuddered at its touch, and the footsteps of the group.

No one spoke. They listened. For a moment or two, they thought they heard another set of footsteps, but when they stopped, they heard nothing.

Xally and Justin reached out with the Force, probing the woods. Suddenly, they stopped. Xally's hand shot up to stop them. She pointed to their right.

Everyone froze weapons at the ready. Nothing happened…

A squeal, high and long, shook the leaves above, and feet thundered towards them. When the boar broke through the trees, they all leapt to the sides. The boar skidded to a stop, turning back on them. It stood taller than Terra with bristly black hair standing up on end. Two pairs of tusks framed the dripping mouth.

"Alright," Hercules called as he, Terra, and Aqua stepped back, according to the deal. "Be very careful."

Glacies nodded. "Machus, Luna, get around behind it and keep it from running. Xally, try and use the Force to keep it still! Coon, block its escape on the left, Ryô do the same on the right! I'll block its escape on this side. Justin, Creon, bring it down!"

"ON IT!"

The kids ran to their positions, as the boar turned around, trying to follow each kid, but it eventually settled on the two boys in its path.

The animal's body tensed, ready to attack. Suddenly, a shudder went through it as an arrow punctured the thick skin of it's back.

"What!?"

All eyes turned to where a teal-skinned elf stood on a tree branch, how in hand. "Sorry, just doing my job."

"Lyla?! What are you doing?"

"Trying out a new trick from the boss…"

Tendrils of darkness sprouted from Lyla's arrow, wrapping around the boar. It seemed into the animal, turning it into a heartless with the emblem on its back, centered under the arrow that still stuck out from it's back.

Luna leapt up towards her friend. The branch shook as she landed on it. "Lyla, how can you do this?"

"Luna… you wouldn't understand."

"I think I do." The yellow elf loosened her grip on her sword. "Please, come home. You don't have to do this anymore. Stop running. "

Lyla looked at her friend and sighed. "I'm sorry." she split her bow in half, blades shooting out from the tips.

On the ground, the others kept to their plan in motion, keeping the Razorback Heartless from escaping as Justin and Creon leapt at the monster; with each slash of their blades, the creature roared.

It charged, trying to get past Machus, but the older boy held it back as Xally pulled it back to the center of the clearing for Justin and Creon to have the best opportunity to attack.

"Justin!" Hercules' youngest son yelled, "I'm going to pull the arrow out of it. Can you get me up there?"

"Yeah!" The young apprentice jumped back as the other boy leapt upwards. Using the Force, Justin launched him onto the back of the Heartless.

Creon grabbed the arrow and ripped it out. The Heartless stopped, and the darkness evaporated. The boar, shuddered, collapsing.

Luna and Lyla leapt across the treetops, slashing at one another. Which each cut, branches flew off in every direction. "Lyla, you lost! Give up!"

"Luna, just give up on me. You know I won't back down, and I never go back on a decision!"

"What about your oath?" The yellow elf snapped. "You made an oath to King Solomon and Queen Victoria(7) to serve and protect the royal family!"

"... I'm sorry." Lyla glanced over at the fallen boar before opening a dark corridor behind her. She slipped in, closing it before Luna could follow.

"LYLA!"

Again, silence captured the forest. A puff of smoke appeared atop the fallen animal as Hades appeared. "Well, that wasn't exactly what I wanted."

"You cheated!" Creon pointed Lyla's arrow at the lord of the dead.

"I never said I couldn't have help." the god waved the boy away. "Why are you complaining? You and your friend get to keep your souls, blah, blah, blah."

Terra crossed his arms, eyebrow raised. "You seem awfully calm about losing your wager."

"Hey, I got what I wanted." He stomped on the boar's back.

"Why do you want the boar?"

"That's for me to know and for you to find out. Oh, and by the way, the answer is no; Keyboy's son is not dead." His disgusting teeth showing as a smile ripped his face in two. "Stay tuned!" Smoke enveloped him and the animal, whisking them away.

Machus sighed. "We're going to regret this later, aren't we?"

"Eh, we can handle it." Coon slapped his brother on the back.

Luna jumped down from the tree, walking up to Creon. "May I see the arrow?" The boy handed her the weapon, the elf looking it over. "I guess whoever sent Lyla, tainted this arrow with darkness."

"I didn't know something like that was possible."

"I can say that it doesn't bode well for us." Aqua sighed. "But, it's over. Let's get back to Thebes."

* * *

Xally blinked. "Are you serious!?"

"Absolutely!" Meg laughed as the girl stared at the roasted cow on the table, the entire cow.

"Why do you need this much food for one meal!?"

The woman sat down. "You try feeding three teenage boys with demigod appetites."

Everyone else came inside and sat around the table. For hours, they laughed and ate. Taking a nice rest after their long adventure.

After supper, Terra stood outside, watching Creon and Xally talk; Hercules came up beside him. "I'll have a talk with him if you'd like."

"No.. it's alright." The master smiled. "He's a good kid, willing to put his life on the line for others, even for someone he fought against. I am still on the fence about any boy giving attention to my little girl, but I do like your son. Just tell him not to make a move until he asks me and he's older."

"I'll be sure to tell him. And, tell Sora I'm sorry about what happened to Pith. I'll keep my eyes and ears open for any news on him. If I find anything, I'll let you know."

"Thanks, Herc." Terra let out a long sigh. "Well, we better get some rest. We'll have to set out early. Xally! Come on, time for bed!"

"Aw! Ok…" The girl jogged back, followed by Creon. Xally and Terra went inside as Hercules and his youngest son stayed behind to talk.

"Dad," Xally yawned, "are you still mad at Creon?"

"I was never mad at him, but I do think better of him now. Just, don't rush into anything. You're still a kid, and you have many years ahead of you. Can you promise me you'll be careful?"

"I promise, Dad!"

* * *

Vanitas slipped on the old black boots and looked down at the coat in his hands. Never did he imagine putting this back on.

Standing up, the man slipped the Organization coat on, feeling the familiar rough, heavy fabric. He zipped it up and turned to the mirror.

Surprisingly, a smile appeared on his face. Alya worked very hard on the coat… the bottom trim, now bands of deep blue and red, wound around the bottom of the coat, hood, and sleeves. The top band, the red one, came up, lining the area around the zipper. She'd stitched red and blue patterns across the coat, copying some of the features of some of the Unversed. Vanitas turned around and caught a glimpse of the red Unversed symbol stitched on the back.

"Do you like it?" His wife stood timidly by, pulling at a strand of her blue-white hair nervously.

"It looks amazing, Alya." Vanitas pulled her into his arms and kissed her forehead. "Are you sure you'll be alright while we're gone?"

"Darling, this isn't Hazy Hamlet. I'll be just fine for two days."

"Alright…" The couple walked into their living room. Vanette stood by the door, waiting for her father.

She bounced, rocking back and forth on the heels of the Organization boots she wore. The coat she wore looked similar to Vanitas', but the lining on here was red and purple. The purple stripe lined the edge of the zipper. Images of stitched flowers decorated the coat and the Unversed symbol was on the back.

"Papa!" she giggled. "I'm ready!"

"Not quite." Vanitas walked over to the corner and grabbed a long, wrapped object. "You need something to defend yourself with."

His daughter took the package, tearing open the paper. Her golden eyes widened as she beheld a long staff of smooth dark wood, the top, carved into curled branches, held a jagged blue crystal.

"Whoooooa!" The girl ran her hand along the staff.

Alya gasped, turning to her husband. "Where did you get that?"

"That magic shop in the square. The owner owed me." Vanitas laid a hand on Vanette's shoulder. "That staff will help you with magic, specifically Blue Magic."

"Blue Magic?"

The man nodded. "Blue Magic allows you to basically steal attacks from those who you fight against.(8) I'm going to train you against the Unversed, so you can learn some attacks."

"Thank you, Papa!" the girl grabbed a leather strap from the remnants of paper on the floor and strapped the staff to her back. "So, where are we going?"

"We're going to look for Braig and his lackeys. Sora and the others are scouring some of the worlds, but I knew Braig and I know where he would go when he wanted time alone. That's where we're going."

"Alrighty!" Vanette gave her mother a hug before grabbing her father's hand.

Vanitas squeezed her hand before pulling up his hood. His breath hitched as memories of his past assailed him, but he pushed them away. Vanette pulled her hood up as he held out his hand, a dark corridor blossoming from the floor.

The father and daughter walked into the darkness, the icy tendrils blanketing them in inky darkness.

* * *

 **And now, Vanitas and Vanette's adventure has begun!**

 **I honestly had a hard time with this stupid chapters, so I hope it turned out alright.**

 **Please review!**

* * *

Footnotes:

(1) Thanks, Cody, for helping me figure out a nickname for Terra.

(2) This is based on one of the 12 Labors of Hercules.

(3) This is based on the centaurs of the Greek mythology.

(4) This is in the original myth about this particular labor.

(5) The most famous centaur who was poisoned by Hercules during an accident from this very myth of the boar.

(6) This is kinda taken from the boar's location in the "Percy Jackson" series.

(7) These are Ven's parents.

(8) This is a type of magic from the Final Fantasy series.

* * *

 **Unexpected King**

With Palm Sunday and Easter behind us, you might expect me to give you the same story that people hear every Easter. Well, you're sorta right and sorta not. I'm going to talk about an event leading up to Jesus' death and resurrection. The Triumphal Entry.

This is the event that kicks off what many would call "Passion Week". Jesus comes riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, and people spread out cloaks and palm leaves for his entry, celebrating the arrival of Jesus.

But why were they celebrating? These people who cheered for Jesus' arrival are the same ones who cry out for his death only a few days later. Why the change?

In that time, the Romans ruled over Palestine and many Jews thought that the Messiah prophesied about would come at this time, and they were right about that, but they believed he would come in as this worldly conquering king, who would crush the Roman Empire and free their lands. When Jesus came riding in at Passover, on the same day as a Roman leader, people thought a revolution was about to happen.

But, throughout the week, they did not see what they expected. Jesus taught, told parables, and answered questions. Some of which made people angry, such as him telling them that they should pay their taxes.

They did not understand what Jesus had come to do, though he hints at it. Jesus came as a king, to conquer death and the grave by taking the sin of the world upon him.

Jesus did come to save them, but it wasn't the way they expected and wanted him to come. Yet, Jesus still died for them, taking their sins upon him, and he loved them.

That's the real point, he loved them even though he knew they would turn on him in a few days. He loves us the same, regardless of what we say or do, even regarding him.


	9. Chapter 8: Pride Lands- Kiara and Kovu

**Probably should've watched this movie again… but I have no access to it. It's been forever, but it fits perfectly here!**

 **Just saying, the Toy Story world looked flippin' awesome! Can't wait to see more at E3!**

 **Ok, enough of that…**

 **Kingdom Hearts © to Disney and Square Enix!**

 **Lion King © to Disney!**

* * *

 **Chapter 8: Pride Lands- Kiara and Kovu**

* * *

"And how is Ana?" Xion smiled at the image on the computer screen, her husband's image smiling back

" _She's great_!" Roxas adjusted the camera a bit. " _I've found a few potential families interested in adopting her, but she wants Marcus to go with her, so I'll have to ask the families about that._ "

The woman sighed. "I hope you find a family. Poor Marcus has nearly given up hope."

" _I'll keep looking._ "

"Hey, Roxas!" Lea stepped into the room, grinning. "How are the ten kids?"

" _Great! Hey, sorry I can't talk much longer; I heard the front door open. I've got to make sure all the kids do their homework. Talk to you guys later!_ " The two waved at Roxas before the transmission cut out.

The pyro sat down, shaking his head. "Seriously, two kids are a handful; how do you two manage 10 extra?"

His old friend sat beside him, picking at a loose string hanging from her jacket. "It's hard, but I mean, they were Nobodies when they first arrived. We knew how to handle them, and by the time their hearts have reformed, we're used to their emotions. They're our kids, though we know they have to find families of their own. But, we'll always love them." Her eyes turned to the tracker that slowly blinked on the front of the cockpit. "So, what're Yake and the others up to?"

"Talking." Lea leaned back. "Your sun is quite lovestruck with that girl, Maxine. He and Blaze have been swapping date stories."

"Oh, Blaze is dating now?"

"Yep." He nodded. "Her and Ry. It's been a long distance thing, but they are dating."

"Well, that's nice."

As they talked, the tracker began blinking faster and faster.

"Dad!" Blaze poked her head in. "You're sitting right there! If you don't watch the tracker we're going to pass the world we need to go to!" The other two boys poked their heads into the room as all eyes turned to the little device. Blaze walked over and punched in a few commands. "Oh! Sweet!"

"What?"

The young pyro grinned back at the others. "Uncle Sora told us all about this world! It's the Pride Lands!"

"Awesome!"

"This is going to be awesome!"

* * *

"Dad, I hate you."

"I don't like this any more than you, Blaze."

Xion and Yuyake laughed, their black lion fur rippling with each laugh. Yuyake shook his mane. "At least Mom and I look good!"

Brim let out a long groaning sigh. "Dad, I blame you for this."

When Lea looked up his small, pointed snout wrinkled in annoyance. "As I said, I don't like this any more than you, kids." The red quills of his crested porcupine form flicked upwards.

"My hair isn't even spikey!" His daughter yelled, her own red quills standing on end. "Screw you, genetics!"

"Yeah, but our hair is." Brim's brown quills flattened on his back; out of all of them, he seemed to be the calmest.

Blaze rolled her eyes. "Oh, whatever! Can we just go already?"

Xion nodded. "We should go to Pride Rock; while I've never met Simba myself, if we tell him that we're friends of Sora, he should be willing to trust us."

"Sounds like a plan."

The five of them began to walk amongst the tall, lush trees around them, taking the time to get used to the four legs they now had, until they came to a clearing of long, tall grass. A great pinnacle of stone towered in the distance. "I'm pretty sure that's Pride Rock."

"Yeah, but I'm pretty sure that's a wildfire!" Everyone's eyes turned to where part of the field glowed with bright flames and smoke billowed in the air. "Come on!" Blaze took off as fast as her legs would carry her; the others followed.

A flash of gold caught Xion's eye, and she saw two lions running from the direction of Pride Rock: Simba and Nala. The two lions skidded to a stop as Heartless suddenly appeared before them. "Blaze, can you handle the fire?"

"Of course!"

"Come on," the black-furred lioness turned towards the other lions, "We've got the Heartless." Her Keyblade appeared between her jaws, cutting apart the Heartless as soon as she got close.

Her son summoned one of his own blades and Lea his, and Brim summoned his hatchet. Simba saw them, and by the expression on his face, recognized the weapons immediately, but no time came for him to speak as an Earth Core Heartless(1) attempted to slam into him.

Blaze burst through the fiery grass into the center of the blaze. Dry grass… the fire caught onto the stuff and took off. She'd have to work fast.

"This better work in this stupid form!" Turning on her heels, she dashed into the grass that now began to catch. Focusing all her will into the flames, she began drawing them into herself. "You can do this!" Clenching her eyes shut, she felt the flames begin pulling in from all around her.

"Simba, look!" Nala cried. They stared at the young porcupine girl who absorbed all the fire from the field, leaving behind only the black burned grass.

Xion cut down the last Heartless before turning to the king. "Simba, are you alright?"

He gave a small nod before running off into the blackened grass. His mate paused, cocking her head slightly as she studied the dark lioness. "Who are you?"

"My name is Xion and this is my son Yuyake. That's Lea and his two kids, Blaze and Brim. We're friends of Sora's."

The lioness's gaze softened at the name. "Well, then it's nice to meet y-" A roar pierced the air. "Oh no…" Nala took off after her mate and the others followed.

"Mom, what do you think is happening?"

"Let's find out." They chased after the lioness until they saw Simba standing between a young lioness and a young lion with darker fur.

Nala ran over to the younger lioness, nuzzling her slightly. "Kiara! You're all right."

"Father," Kiara narrowed her eyes at Simba, ignoring her mother's presence, "how could you break your promise?"

"It's a good thing I did. I almost lost you. No more hunts for you; not ever!"

"But I was doing fine!" his daughter snapped. "Even before Kovu…"

"KOVU!?" Simba turned on the young dark-furred lion and roared, shaking the air around them.

"Simba!?"

Brim glanced over at his dad. "Uh, any idea what's happening here?"

"Shh, we'll find out soon."

A tree rustled near them and the baboon, Rafiki swung down, getting in Kovu's face. "Hey! You! How dare you save the king's daughter?"

"You saved her?" The king glanced between the baboon and the young lion. "Why?"

Kovu bowed his head slightly. "I humbly ask to join your pride."

"No! You were banished with the other outsiders."

"I have left the outsiders." Kovu straightened up, staring the older lion in the eyes. "I am a rogue. Judge me now, for what I am… or am I to be blamed for a crime I didn't commit?"

Simba snarled and began pacing around. Nala looked at her mate before speaking calmly. "Simba… you owe him your daughter's life."

"Hmm, yes, sire." a blue feathered bird, Zazu, landed on Simba's back. "Clearly, we are in his debt, and royal protocol demands that all debts be paid… though in this case, you might want to make an exception."

The king gave no sign that he heard the bird, but he soon stopped, letting out a long sigh. "My father's law will prevail. For now, I reserve judgment." He turned his head, fixing Kovu with one eye. "We'll see who you really are." He turned and began the trek back to Pride Rock. Everyone slowly followed him.

Xion and the others moved up towards the king. "Simba?"

"Hello," he turned his head towards them, a tired, confused look in his eyes. "Are you friends of Sora?"

"That's right." Lea grinned.

"Then you are all welcome here, though I do wonder why you came."

"I wish it was under better circumstances." Xion's son shook his short mane. "Sora and Kairi's son was kidnapped, and we're trying to find him."

Simba and Nala stopped. "What!? You will have to tell me everything. Trust me, if there's anything I can do to help, I will do it."

"Thanks, Simba."

"Sooo," Brim mused, "what's with this whole 'outsider' thing?"

"They were a group of lions and lionesses that followed Scar. After Sora and I defeated them, I had them banished."

"Oh…"

They walked the rest of the way in relative silence, the soft grass around them rippling like water. By the time they made it to Pride Rock, the sun merely poked above the ground as the darkness of night slipped over the sky. The group went inside the inner cavern of Pride Rock, where the other members of the Pride slept.

Xion watched Simba keep Kovu out of the den, "Nala, do you think he's being too harsh with Kovu?"

"Perhaps, but he is just trying to protect Kiara and the rest of us. If Kovu proves that he is trustworthy, Simba will become more understanding towards him."

"Makes sense." The black lioness curled up, closing her eyes and allowing sleep to overtake her.

* * *

Roxas looked up at the group of kids trailing behind him. "Alright. You guys have your tasks, so get all the stuff on your list and meet me back here."

"Yes, sir!"

"Alright, now hop to it." The man smiled as the ten kids split up across the giant supermarket. Even though there were so many mouths to feed, shopping was easy; split the list between the kids and let them grab the stuff. Roxas had his own list as well.

He moved up and down the aisles.

Cereal. Check.

Jelly. Check.

Peanut Butter. Check.

Paper plates. Check.

Napkins. Che…

"Déjalo en paz!(2) Déjalo en paz!" Roxas ran to the cries, reaching the aisle within moments.

Ana hit at an older boy's leg; the boy paid her no mind, as he currently had his hands occupied. One hand held Marcus' shirt collar while the other pummeled the ghoul's(3) face.

"Marcus!"

Little Ana turned her head towards the man. "Señor Roxas, Ayúdeme!(4)"

Roxas tore down the aisle, pulling the boy off Marcus. The boy quickly fled now that an adult entered the fray. "You alright, Marcus?"

"I-I think so." Marcus wiped some green goo from the edge of his mouth. "That guy got past my hood. If he gets radiation poisoning…(5)"

"Then it was his fault." The man straightened the boy's jacket. "I'm sorry this happened."

Marcus looked down, the glow in his skin pulsing under the hood. Little hands wrapped around his own. "Marcus…" He smiled at Ana who smiled back.

Roxas laid his hands on both of their shoulders. "Come on, let's finish up and head home."

"Yes, sir."

* * *

Yuyake shook his mane, yawning as he stepped out of the main cavern. "Oh, finally up?" Blaze and Brim grinned at him.

"Oh, shut up."

"Come on, we've got places to be."

"Uh," the black lion blinked. "Where are we going?"

Blaze began walking down off Pride Rock. "Kiara invited us to go with her and Kovu. He's going to teach her how to hunt. It should be pretty fun to watch."

"Ok then."

The three wandered out into a field where the two lions waited. Kiara smiled as they came over. "See! I told you they'd come! You guys ready to see some hunting skill?" Behind her, Zovu shook his head.

"Sure!"

A little while later, the three sat to the side watching as Kiara attempted to sneak up on Kovu. The lioness moved through the brush, making quite a lot of noise. Kovu smirked. "Three… two… one…" He ducked just as-.

"Gotcha!" Kiara leapt at her friend, completely missing. She rolled across the ground, looking up as Kovu came over to her. "You could hear me… huh?"

Brim laughed. "Yeah, only a lot."

"You're breathing too hard." Kovu paced around the downed lioness, walking softly, giving an example of his next words. "Relax… feel the earth under your paws, so it doesn't shift and make noise." Kiara followed his example, as did Yuyake and the others. "Now, watch the master, and learn."

He turned and ran down a gully, making very little noise as he took off, pouncing not long after.

"Aaaaaaahhh!"

Yuyake took off first, running as fast as he could with the others following. When they reached the other lion, they found him standing over a terrified Timon.

The meerkat trembled. "Don't eat me! Please! I-I-I never really met your tyrant… I mean, uh… Scar. Scar. Oh, heck of a guy. A little moody, but I…"

"Timon! What are you doing here?"

"Kiara!" Timon smiled. "Thank goodness! Ohh! Hey, for once, we're not following ya. This just happens to be the best smorgasbord in the Pride Lands. Bugs everywhere!" He waved a hand in the direction of a field, covered in birds. "But, you don't call for a reservation, and yeesh!" He stormed towards the white birds. "Get outta here, ya scavengers! Go on! Shoo! Shoo!" The nearest bird turned and bit the meerkat on the nose. "Oh! Ow!"

Pumba came charging through, screaming, scattering the birds into the air, but the birds instantly realighted on the ground, and some on the warthog's back. "Ohh… Timon, I'm getting tired. I gotta lose some pounds."

"Or some birds." Blaze let a small stream of fire from her paw, spooking the birds on Pumba's back.

The warthog gave her a grateful smile. "Hey, maybe they can help. Even him." His eyes alighted on Kovu.

"Yeah, there's an idea." Timon huffed. "Right. Let the random kids and the vicious outsider… Hey! Wait! I have an idea! What if they help?"

"What?"

Timon looked at the group. "You wanna lend a voice and some quills?"

"Yeah!"

Kovu stared blankly, and Yuyake laughed. "He means roar."

"Like this!" Kiara ran a little into the field and roared.

"Woo hoo! Do it again!"

Yuyake ran after her and roared with Blaze and Brim following. They ran around the field, quills extended upwards to keep any birds from landing back.

Eventually, Kovu joined, roaring alongside the other two lions. "Why are we doing this? What's the point of this training?"

"Training?" Brim laughed, "Gosh, you sound like Justin… This is just for fun!"

"Fun?"

Yuyake jumped off a rock, snapping at some birds. "You don't know what fun is?"

"You've gotta get out more."

"Get into the game, Kovu!" Blaze laughed. "Loosen up a little. Woohoo!"

The lion averted his eyes before roaring. "Yee-ha…!" His eyes lit up. "Yeee-haaaa!"

"Now you've got it!" They ran after the birds, laughing.

* * *

Simba stared down, straining his eyes to see his daughter and the others out in the field. Lea and Xion walked up beside him. "Looks like they're having fun."

"Yes…" the king never turned his eyes away.

Lea smiled, his quills flicking slightly. "Kids… stubborn aren't they?"

"Yes, they are."

"Yeah, I basically have eleven kids, so if anyone knows it's me." Xion's tail curled around her legs as she sat.

Simba chuckled humorlessly. "I can barely handle one headstrong child, I don't know how anyone could handle eleven."

"At least you're not dealing with romance," the pyro laughed. "Advising teens on romance is just annoying. My daughter has a boyfriend, and I've already had to put fear into him, and not to mention my son. He's headstrong in his own way; he and the girl he likes are both like that. Trust me, that's drama you should be happy you're not dealing with."

Simba and Xion both laughed, and the lioness spoke. "Yuyake is already planning a wedding with Maxine. They're rushing it if you ask me, so there's so much more drama in that."

"Alright, I don't feel so overwhelmed," Simba shook his head. "But, I am still worried, not just about Kovu and my daughter, but what you said about Sora… I couldn't imagine if anything happened to my daughter. What can I do to help?"

"We know that someone related to his kidnapping is here. They should be easy to spot."

"Wait…" Simba turned and paced. "Rafiki said he saw someone he called Hauna Moyo(6)."

"Hauna Moyo(6)?"

"It means 'pale no heart'." The baboon in mention swung down beside them. "The white lion with the blood of Hakuna Moyo: 'no heart'." He gave them a wry smile before leaping off the rock.

The keybearers glanced at one another. "Xehanort."

"That means it's either Angel or Xext."

"So, a white lion?" The king mused. "I will have the lionesses keep an eye out for them."

"Sire?" Zazu landed beside his king. "Did you say a 'white lion'?"

"I did."

The bird's feathers ruffled. "I did see a white lion earlier today going into the Elephant Graveyard; he stood out so much."

Lea began walking down the rock. "Sounds like Xext. Well Xi, we better get the kids and go after him."

"Let me come!"

"Simba, I think you should stay here." Xion held up a paw. "You have enough on your plate with Kovu. While I think you can trust him, I know you don't, and neither do most of your subjects. You should stay and deal with that situation; we'll let you know what happens with Xext."

"Alright…"

The keybearers took off down the rocks and through the field. The ground began to shake as the kids, Timon, and Pumba suddenly ran past, chased by a herd of rhinos. "Well, that's just great." They watched as Blaze stopped, fire shooting out from her quills. The herd swerved to avoid the erupting flames as they all leapt behind some rocks, laughing.

"That was awesome!"

"Talk about an adrenaline rush!"

Lea and Xion ran over to them. "Are you all ok?"

"Of course," Blaze grinned, the air around her quills flickering from the heat of the flames she'd used. "We're great!"

Xion smiled, shaking her head. "Sorry to have to pull you away," her face became serious, "but we have a tip that Xext might be here."

"Xext!?"

"Let's go?"

"Uh, what's an Xext?" Timon brushed the loose dirt off his fur.

"Not a what, a who," Brim answered. "He's one of the people connected to the kidnapping of Sora's son."

Timon and Pumba gaped, having apparently not heard about this; both of their faces hardened. "Go get that creep."

"And give him a hit from me."

"Me too!"

The group smiled at the two. "Got it." Turning on their haunches, they ran across the grassland. "Where are we going?"

"The Elephant Graveyard."

* * *

Xext sat on the branch of a tree. He'd seen the Keybearers go off a few hours ago; he'd have to head back to the graveyard soon and keep them occupied.

The night that now covered everything and the shade of the trees managed to keep his white form hidden as his red and gold eyes probed all around.

From where he sat, he could see two lions, lying in wait far from Pride Rock. Vitani and Nuka. The boy knew about the plot against Simba; use Kovu to get close to the daughter and then kill the king for Kovu's mother and the outsider leader, Zira, but he'd seen that pestering baboon sweep Kovu and Kiara away. The two had come back dreamy-eyed and happy.

Great.

Xext couldn't shake that baboon. The thing followed him, as if he could sense where the boy was at all time, also the baboon called him 'Hauna Moyo', whatever that meant.

Movement below recaptured his attention. The two lions below seemed to tense as Kovu and Simba stood outside the cave on the rock, alone. However, the young lion did not attack the king. Thanks to the meddling baboon.

Vitani and Nuka quickly turned and fled through the darkness to home to tell Zira.

Good.

Now all Xext had to do was keep some keybearers occupied.

* * *

"I'm never going to get used to sleeping in this form." Blaze shook herself, quills extending slightly as she did.

Her dad nodded, nuzzling her slightly. "Don't worry, it won't be for long."

"I still can't believe we searched so long and found no trace of Xext."

"That tip you got was total bull."

"Oh," came a sick laugh, "was it?" The young white lion they'd searched late into the night for, sat on top of a rock, grinning down at them. "Congratulations, you wasted an entire night, and here I am. But I guess you should get some sort of reward for your efforts." He rolled over on his back, lazily. "So, here you go."

Something smacked Yuyake and Lea back before pummeling on Xion and the other two, though they could not see it.

"The heck!?"

Blaze's quills lit up, fire swirling around them.

Crash.

A green orb exploded on the girl's back, and all the flames instantly went out. "What!?" She looked up to see a monkey-like Heartless with green orbs in its hand and a green leaf hat on its head(7). "Oh! That thing is so dead!" She charged after it, but every time she tried to summon fire, the Heartless would throw another green orb, and put the fire out. Looks like she'd have to kill it the old-fashioned way.

Yuyake swung his Keyblade wildly at their invisible enemies, which continued to batter them from every side. The others, all but Blaze, who was occupied with another Heartless, did the same. His mother's weapon hit something with a smack, and a Heartless appeared.

Her eyes widened, suddenly remembering these creatures from Sora's journey into the Cavern of Remembrance. Necromancers(8). "Kill them, quickly!"

The others swung their weapons until they hit the Necromancers around them, breaking their spell of invisibility. Once visible, the Heartless spread out forcing the group to pursue them, all while Xext sat on his rock, watching and doing nothing.

"I'd hurry if I were you." He teased. "Who knows if Simba will live much longer…"

"What!?"

"Oops, did I let that slip." The white lion's grin beamed down on them like a mocking spotlight. "Though, I really would hurry." He stood off, trotting away at a brisk but confident pace, with the Keybearers behind, occupied by the Heartless.

As soon as they finished off the Heartless…

"Come on!" They ran out of the graveyard, the sky seemingly to have darkened with the approach of rain. As their feet touched the grass of the savanna, a rumble shook the earth.

"This way!" The sound came from the burned area where they first met Kiara and Kovu.

As they reached the area, they saw Simba standing atop a nearby ravine. Lionesses with dark fur stood around the area, all looking down at a pile of logs at the ravine's bottom. Two lionesses, one older, one young, stood by the pile, looking down a battered and broken body of a young, scrawny lion.

Kovu lay nearby, unconscious but otherwise unhurt. Simba however, limped off, battered and bloody, as his attackers found themselves distracted by the death of their comrade.

"Simba needs healing." Xion took after the king, and the others followed. Brim, Blaze, and Yuyake paused, looking back at their new friend, Kovu, who stirred slightly but did not rise.

"Kids!"

"... coming!"

* * *

 **Ugh! This chapter took forever! I just could not get it to come out like I wanted… but whatever, it's done.**

 **It might be because I haven't seen Lion King 2 in… oh, 10 years.**

 **Whatever…**

 **Please Review!**

* * *

Footnotes:

(1) These were introduced in BBS 0.2.

(2) "Leave him alone"

(3) If you don't remember, he's a Glowing One ghoul from Fallout.

(4) "Mr. Roxas, help"

(5) Because he is a Glowing One, he seeps radiation; Yensid gave him a jacket infused with magic that absorbs the radiation.

(6) Swahili

(7) This is the Wild Shaman Heartless from KHUX; it appears in Enchanted Dominion.

(8) They look like the Shaman Heartless from the Pride Lands, but they're more colorful and stronger.

* * *

 **Identity Anxiety**

Young people are always trying to figure out who they are. This identity crisis is rampant today.

I myself have been dealing with my own identity crisis, and it has caused me so much anxiety, that I have had numerous panic attacks in the recent weeks.

Identity is someone every struggles with, but sometimes we look for our identity in things that won't fulfill us. We look for it in our grades, as if how we do in school is who we are. Or how many likes/favorites/follows/watchers we get on social media. There are many other things out there that people put their identity in. None of these will ever fulfill you.

Where do you look for your identity…?

Where should you look for your identity?


	10. Chapter 9: Pride Lands- Redemption

**Hi guys!**

 **Well, how about all that AMAZING KH3 INFO AT E3!?**

 **I'm not emotionally prepared for that game and I'm alright with that.**

 **But let's get back to my KH universe, shall we.**

 **Kingdom Hearts © to Disney and Square Enix!**

 **Lion King 2 © to Disney!**

 **Sasuke © to Yamichaos27!**

 **All other OCs © to me!**

* * *

 **Chapter 9: Pride Lands- Redemption**

* * *

Xion cast Curza over Simba as he told everyone what happened. Blaze lay down, resting her head on her paws. "I can't believe Kovu would lead Simba into that trap…"

"It can't be true!" Kiara snapped at her father.

Down below Pride Rock, Simba's subjects, of all animal kinds awaited news on their king's recovery. Suddenly, voices began raising from the group below. Everyone watched as Kovu made his way up the rock, his head lowered, tail drooping, but everyone could see the new scar over his eye, a scar that looked just like Scar's.

Simba stood up, narrowing his eyes at the young lion. "Why have you come back?"

"Simba…" Kovu looked up, his eyes full of tumultuous emotion, "I had nothing to do with-"

"You don't belong here!"

"Please… I ask your forgiveness." The young lion bowed his head.

Kiara quickly moved next to her father. "Daddy, please listen to him!"

"I agree with Kiara!" Yuyake jumped up, standing beside the young lioness. "Let Kovu speak, please hear him out."

Simba never turned his eyes from Kovu. "Silence! Kovu, when you first came here you asked for judgment… and I pass it now. Exile!"

"No!"

"Kovu!" Brim and Blaze both leapt up as the lionesses began driving Kovu back.

Standing nearby, Lea and Xion looked at one another. "What should we do?"

"Xi, we didn't see what happened, so we have to respect what Simba says." the pyro sighed. The two stood there until everyone dispersed but Simba, their kids, and Kiara. "We still need to figure out why Xext is doing all this. He wants all this war, but why?"

"Good question…"

Kiara's voice shattered their thoughts as she growled at her father. "You will never be Mufasa!" She turned and ran into the den, sobbing, followed by Blaze, Yuyake, and Brim.

Simba stood still, struck by his daughter's words before he lay down, staring out across the Pride Lands. "Simba." Xion walked over. "I'm sorry."

"Why can't she understand that I'm doing this for her own safety?"

"She's a kid still. Give her time to cool off." Lea sat down. "Actually, both of you take some time and then talk it out calmly. She's angry, you're angry, no one explains anything well like that."

The king looked over at the two keybearers and sighed, "You're right. Thanks you two. By the way, did you find that Xext person?"

"We did, but he told us you needed help, so we came back."

Xion nodded. "He seemed to want this whole thing to happen. We don't know why."

"Ask Rafiki, maybe he knows."

"Thanks, Simba."

* * *

"I'm sorry Kiara…" Blaze sat down beside the lioness, wanting to give her a comforting nuzzle, but her quills made that quite dangerous. "What do we do now?"

"We go after Kovu, that's what!" Yuyake began looking up and down the walls of the den.

"But we can't go out the front and there's no back exit."

The black-furred lion laid a paw on part of the wall. "Don't be too sure." He backed up before running at the wall, just before he hit it, Yuyake jumped, all four paws landing on the wall as he pushed off. A crack. Part of the wall split open a little, allowing light to filter in. "Let's hurry before someone sees us go."

Kiara jumped to her paws, running over and shoving the crack open a little more, just enough so that she and the others could slip through and run across the plains under the cover of the setting sun.

From the shadow of a nearby tree, red and golden eyes watched, as the young white lion's tail flicked back and forth. He leapt down, smirking as a dark corridor enveloped him. "Now the fun begins…"

* * *

"Mr. Roxas, where's Maxine?"

Roxas looked up from his stack of paperwork. "She's not here yet?" He looked up at the clock. 3:48. "Hm, she was supposed to be here at 3. I'll be right back." Getting up, Roxas walked to the landline(1) and dialed in a number. "... Hey, Olette! … Yeah, just doing some paperwork. Say, Maxine was supposed to be over here almost an hour ago, do you know where she is? ...Oh, I see. Thanks." He hung up the phone, turning to the kids. "Maxine is sick apparently. She threw up this morning, so she's staying home today. Sorry kids."

"Aw… ok."

* * *

"Any sign of Kovu?"

"None. And Kiara kinda took off on her own."

Yuyake lay down among the grass and rolled over, hoping to rid himself of the annoying itch in the middle of his back. "Well, we better find her."

Blaze opened her mouth to speak, but she stopped as laughter fluttered towards them. The three looked up and saw Kovu and Kiara standing next to one another by a pool. "It's them!" They ran over to their friends, both of whom ignored them.

"Let's get out of here." Kovu nuzzled the lioness beside him. "We'll run away together! And start a pride… all our own!"

Kiara lightly laughed before shaking her head. "Kovu… we have to go back."

"You're kidding. But we're finally together!"

"Our place is with our pride. If we run away, they'll be divided forever."

Brim nodded. "Yeah, only you two can fix this mess."

Averting his eyes, Kovu stood in silence before he finally looked back up. "Race you back!"

"I don't think so." They all jumped, turning to see the white lion walking towards them. "I can't have you messing this up."

"Xext!"

Blaze's spines alighted with fire as she snarled. "Kiara, Kovu, go! We'll handle this creep!"

The two lions began to run off; Xext turned towards them, holding up a paw to freeze them with his powers, but he pulled back as a ball of fire nearly hit his paw. "Not happening!"

Brim, with a hatchet in his mouth, pawed the ground beneath him as Yuyake summoned one of his Keyblades. "You're not getting past us you creep!"

* * *

"Uh, where are the kids?"

Lea and Xion looked around the den, their eyes landing on a large crack. "And they're gone. We better tell Simba."

"Better tell me what?"

"That Kiara and our kids are gone."

"What!?"

The king grit his teeth, but before he could do anything, Zazu flew into the den. "Sire! The Outsiders are on the attack, heading this way! It's war!"

"Zazu! Find Kiara!" Simba's head snapped up, his eyes lighting up with a burning anger. "We'll assemble the lionesses. Move! Now!" The bird flew out as the lion turned to the keybearers. "I'm going to really need your help."

"You can count on us!"

* * *

The clouds grumbled, releasing their floodgates as rain poured down on the two approaching prides that met on the plains before Pride Rock. The river nearby roared as it beat against the logs that nearly killed Simba, and now served as a dam, drying up much of the river behind the Outsiders.

Zira grinned across at Simba, her teeth dripping with saliva. "It's over, Simba! I have dreamed of nothing else for years!"

"Boy, does she need a hobby." Lea shifted on his feet before summoning his Keyblade.

"Last chance Zira!" The king held his head high, "Go home!"

"I am home! ATTACK!"

The Outsiders charged in, Simba's pride following suit. The two lines clashed, becoming a jumbled mess of bodies. Lea and Xion batted away the attacking lions as they came close. Nearby, they could see Zira and Simba trading blows.

The two leaders pulled back for a moment, taking a breath before they ran back at one another, their eyes blazing with anger.

Then.

Kiara and Kovu jumped between them.

"Kiara!?"

"Kovu!? Move…"

Simba narrowed his eyes at his daughter. "Stand aside."

"Daddy, this has to stop!" The battle began to slow, as all eyes fell on the newcomers, confused as to their actions.

Zira snarled at the young lion she raised. "You're even weaker than I thought. Get out of the way!"

"You'll never hurt Kiara… or Simba." Kovu snapped. "Not while I'm here."

"Kiara, stay out of this!"

Looking her father in the eyes, Kiara spoke softly. "A wise king once told me, 'we are one'. I didn't understand what he meant… now I do."

"But they…"

"Them… us." The young lioness looked around at her pride and the Outsiders alike. "Look at them. They are us. What differences do you see? Aren't we all part of the Circle of Life."

Lea and Xion couldn't help but smile as realization began to dawn on the faces of the lions around them. Simba looked around as well, studying each face; he glanced at the keybearers and they both nodded to him. He paused before nuzzling his daughter.

"Vitani… now!"

They tensed as Zira turned to her daughter, but the young lioness averted her eyes and began to walk towards Simba. "No, Mother! Kiara's right. Enough!"

"If you will not fight, then you will die as well." However, Zira paused, watching all of her lionesses walk over to Simba's side. Her eyes filled with panic as she found herself all alone. "What!? Where are you going? Get back here!"

"Let it go, Zira. It's time to put the past behind us."

"I'll never let it go…" Dark wisps began steaming off her. Lea and Xion tensed. "This is for you, Scar!" The darkness enveloped her, and her body disappeared, leaving only a heart which writhed in the darkness. Around it formed the body of a large Heartless which looked like a lion, but the body and long tail were a dark red with flecks of white across it. The face and ears were white with red around the glowing yellow eyes; chains hung from the two front white paws. The Werecat Heartless(2) roared before leaping at Simba.

Kiara pounced, catching the Heartless off guard as Lea came in for a strike. Xion followed up with another blow, as Kiara clawed at the Werecat's face. The four backed up until the Heartless stood at the edge of the deep, dried up riverbank.

The Werecat turned, it's long tail catching the two keybearers with it, as it fell taking Xion, Lea, and Kiara down with it.

"KIARA!"

"Lea! Xion!"

* * *

Flame curled around Xext, but he managed to leap out, only to have Brim charge at him from the left. "Wow, you have improved since we last met. I'm impressed."

"What do you want, Xext!? Why are you even here?" Blaze sent another blast of fire from her quills as Xext tried to freeze Yuyake with his powers.

The white lion laughed. "Well, maybe I'm trying to distract you from finding Pith. Or maybe, I'm trying to bring about more darkness for our boss to absorb, so he can grow stronger. Maybe I'm doing both. Or maybe I'm doing neither…"

He glanced over towards Pride Rock, "But I get the feeling that my job is almost done. Hopefully, your parent's job will be too."

"What?"

"I mean, if they get crushed by a bunch of logs like Zira's kiddo did, their jobs are officially done."

The kids instantly stopped. "You lie!"

"Do I?" He smirked. "You can fight me or try to save them. Your choice. But know this… I made sure they will die on their own."

"Screw you!" Brim turned and began to run towards Pride Rock, his friends following behind.

"Do you think he was lying?"

"We can't chance it!"

* * *

Kiara caught herself on a ledge as Xion and Lea fell further down with the Heartless. Everyone above ran to the ledge as Kiara pulled herself up.

"Look!" Kovu ran towards the log dam. Heartless began appearing around the logs, attacking them.

"If the dam breaks…"

"Hurry!" Simba yelled. "Kill those Heartless!"

Xion swung Seeker of the Stars(3), catching the Werecat across the mouth. A crack echoed across the ravine as the logs split, and the river careened towards them. "LEA! RUN!"

The pyro saw the water and took off, Xion beside him. The Heartless roared but soon found itself crushed under the pounding of the water and the remains of the giant logs.

As the water rushed up, Lea and Xion tried to climb the sides, but the muddy earth slipped beneath them. Suddenly, something warm wrapped around them and launched them up just as the water rushed under them. On the opposite shore stood their kids; Blaze's quills glowed with fire as she controlled the stream of flames that wound around the adult's and carried them to safety.

"We made it in time…"

* * *

Xion nuzzled her son as he ran over, and Lea did the same to his children. "Thanks, Blaze. You saved our lives back there."

"You're welcome, Aunt Xion."

"Looks like Xext was telling the truth." Yuyake scratched his ear. "We were fighting him and he said he was going to kill you two unless we were there. He's probably long gone by now, but he might have clued us into why he is trying to stir up trouble… maybe. He wasn't really clear on that."

"We'll discuss it on the ship."

Everyone, the pride, Kovu, the Outsiders, walked back towards Pride Rock. Their home. Simba fell back to the Keyblade wielders who waited behind. "You're not staying, are you?"

"No…"

"I figured." Simba nodded. "I am sorry I wasn't more helpful in finding Sora's son."

Lea shook his head. "You had your ha… paws full. And we got some of what we needed."

"But not all." Rafiki swung down from a tree. In his paws, he held something wrapped in leaves. "This is for Moyo Huzuni(4), 'sad heart', the sister of Hauna Moyo."

"Angel…"

"She is trapped, and cannot escape. They will force her to do evil, but this can protect her from their control." The baboon unfolded the leaves to reveal a small red fruit. "Ledidi, the miracle fruit(5). Give this to her."

Blaze made a small wisp of fire to grab the fruit. "How do you know so much, Rafiki."

"Oh…" the baboon laughed, "I have my ways." With a wink, he swung into the trees.

"I don't get him…"

"No one does."

* * *

"How is he, Doctor?"

The doctor closed up his bag and turned to Sasuke. "His lordship, despite all the pain he's in, is doing well. However, all the stress from the situation with Pith combined with the workload of being king could cause problems."

"We'll do what we can then." The doctor bowed and left. Sasuke looked over at the old king who sat, speaking with Merlin, the resident wizard. They'd been trying to figure out where Pith might have been taken.

"Well, there are some pocket dimensions and alternate universes that we can connect to, but I would need more time and some help to decipher if they are worth exploring." Merlin stroked his beard. "Fortunately, Master Yen Sid's student has come to visit me. She is quite adept at magic and would probably be willing to help." He vanished in a puff of cloud.

Even gathered up some papers from the king's desk. "He's bringing her then."

"Who?"

"The Vermillion Sorceress." Ienzo finished. "I don't know much about her, but she's visited before to look through our library for texts on magic."

Another puff of smoke appeared, but not Merlin's. This one was dark in color, like smoke from a fire. When it faded, Merlin stood beside a tall woman dressed in a yellow dress with wings adorning the collar; her blue hair, which faded to white, hung in a long braid down her back. Her gray eyes panned the room, looking at each person.

Merlin coughed. "Everyone, this is Yen Sid's student, Maryushaka(6)."

"You may call me, Mary." She smiled. "I will assist in any way I can. That is why my master sent me here after all."

"Thank you, Mary. We are grateful for your help."

"You're welcome. Now, shall we get to work?"

* * *

 **Well, that's the end of that world!**

 **Please review!**

* * *

Footnotes:

(1) No cell phones for these guys.

(2) This is a variant of the Werewolf Heartless which served as the boss of Castle of Dreams in KHUX.

(3) This is the Keyblade that she got in my KH3 rewrite.

(4) Swahili for sad heart.

(5) The miracle fruit is a real berry that when eaten it makes sour foods taste sweet.

(6) You will learn more about her in an upcoming KH3 chapter.

* * *

 _VAs:_

 _Maryushka- Erica Luttrell (Emily Kaldwin, Cheetah, Princess Candy, Sapphire)_

* * *

 **Identity Crisis**

In the last chapter's devo, I talked about identity, and I have a second part on that.

The last thing I asked was where should you get your identity.

Finding our identity in what we can do, what we have, or how much people like us will never be satisfying. Only when we find our identity in Christ will we really find out who we are.

First, we are made in the image of God. A perfect, all-powerful being and we are made in his image. When God created everything, he spoke it into existence, except when it came to humans. He formed them with his own hands and breathed life into them.

In Jeremiah, it is written that God forms us in the womb. He knows who we are and what we will be like before we are born.

Despite what we may do in life, to God, we are still worth saving. Even if only one human existed, Jesus would still die to save them. We are loved, we are heirs with Christ, and if we accept him, we are adopted as His children. We are royalty, we have destiny, and we have hope.

That is who we are. Our identity.


	11. Chapter 10: Agrabah- The Roc

**I don't really have much to say today other than, I hope we get more KH3 info this week!**

 **Kingdom Hearts © to Disney and Square Enix!**

 **Aladdin © to Disney!**

 **Phantom of the Opera © Andrew Lloyd Webber**

* * *

 **Chapter 10: Agrabah- The Roc**

* * *

"So, Xext said that he and the others might be trying to distract us, or they're trying to bring about darkness for their leader to absorb?"

" _That's what he said, Uncle Sora._ "

"Thanks for telling us, Justin." Kairi smiled. "We'll keep that in mind." She shut down the call, looking over at her husband. "We need to figure out exactly what their plan is. We have a few ideas."

Patria looked down at the tracker in her hands. "And this thing is going nuts, so we must be close."

"Well," PJ looked at the screen, "the nearest world is Agrabah."

Sora's face lit up. "That's great! I'd love to see Aladdin and Jasmine again!"

"This isn't a social call, Dad. You know that."

"Patria, I am well aware of that." he sighed. "But, we need to keep our spirits up somehow, so I'm looking on the bright side."

"Well, someone has to…"

* * *

"And this place is still hot as ever."

Max playfully shoved Patria. "Be grateful you don't have fur."

Sora stretched his arms. "It feels good to be back. You said that Aladdin is sultan now, right?"

"Yeah, he is." A voice spoke above them. They saw a girl dressed in a brown dress with a dark cloth wrapped around her head. She smiled down at them. "Patria, Hikari. It's been a while."

"Amira!"

The girl leapt down. "Good to see all of you. And you two must be Sora and Kairi; Mother and Father talk about you a lot. I'm princess Amira; it's a pleasure."

"The pleasure is all ours." Kairi smiled. "And these two are PJ and Max.

"Nice to meet you. Where's Pith?"

Sora coughed into his hand. "Actually, we needed to speak to Aladdin about something concerning Pith."

"Alright. Follow me." She motioned for them to follow. They walked through the busy streets.

Out of the crowd, a loud voice yelled. "Your Highness!" The guard, Rasoul, came running up. "Why are you outside the palace? It isn't safe!"

"Rasoul, you know my father said I could come into the city; I can take care of myself. And why are you so worried? It's no secret that you don't like me." The guard opened his mouth to answer, but no sound came out. "Now, I need to get back to the palace. Some of Father and Mother's old friends have arrived."

She stepped past him. "Nice Amira," Patria smirked. "He's a jerk."

"He's never liked Aladdin or me for that matter." Sora rubbed the back of his head as they continued on. "So, how's everyone doing?"

The princess turned around and continued walking backward. "They're great. Mother and Father have made great strides with diplomatic relations with the neighboring kingdoms, well all but the one populated by only zombies. Iago has been visiting the rainforest nearby to visit his lady-friend, Thundra. Carpet is… carpet. And Genie is actually out of town with his girlfriend: another genie named Eden(1). I've been working with some of the street kids to stop corrupt merchants and others like them; some of Father's old friends are helping as well."

"Well, that's good." It did not take them long to weave through the streets and arrive at the gates of the palace.

* * *

"What happened to me?"

"You tried to escape and ended up trapping yourself in a crystal for over twenty years."

"Twenty years… Tell me, what has changed, and who are you?"

"My name is Jazzy…"

* * *

Pith sat up as he heard whimpering. He could see Angel sleeping as she always did, curled up in sitting position, her wings wrapped around herself. Even though she hid her body from sight, he could tell she was trembling.

"Angel?" The boy reached over, only for a wing to lash out, slicing his hand. "Ow!"

At his cry, the girl jumped awake. She saw her outstretched wing and the blood dripping from his hand. "Pith!? I'm sorry! I didn't mean to…"

"It's alright, Angel." Pith smiled. "Did you have a nightmare?"

She nodded, her wings folding back up and vanishing in light. "I have them quite often. Just reliving memories of my life back in Tech Town. You try growing up with Tene Bris and Xext for family. They would lock me up and hurt me…" Angel looked down. "But, there's no need for me to bring that up…"

Pith stared at the girl. He wanted to say something, but he couldn't find the words. However, something came to mind. His own way to tell her. He leaned back against a wall, holding his hand still so the blood would dry. Closing his eyes he began to sing. " _No more talk of darkness. Forget these wide-eyed fears. I'm here, nothing can harm you. My words will warm and calm you. Let me be your freedom. Let daylight dry your tears. I'm here, with you, beside you. To guard you and to guide you._ "(2)

He looked up and saw Angel looking over at him, smiling, and… were her cheeks a little pink? The song was meant to be romantic, but he didn't intend that as a romantic gesture, merely as a way to cheer her up.

"Thank you…"

"Sorry if that was awkward. I didn't mean to seem like I was coming onto you or something. I just wanted to make you smile."

A giggle escaped her lips. "Well, thank you still. It made me feel better."

"You're welcome, Angel."

* * *

The castle servants ushered Amira away instantly, but she rejoined the others a few minutes later, dressed in clothes more befitting for a princess. She led them to the throne room. Sora smiled as he saw the couple standing at the far end of the room

Aladdin looked over and gaped. "Sora!?"

"It's been too long, Aladdin!" The two men hugged one another as their wives clasped hands.

"Kairi!"

"Jasmine!"

When the greetings ended, Aladdin looked around. "I wish you were here on a social call, but that doesn't look to be the case."

"No," Kairi sighed, "our son was kidnapped. We're trying to find him."

"Too bad Genie's out of town. He would've been a great help, but we'll do whatever we can, Sora." Jasmine gave them a comforting smile.

Aladdin nodded. "If Pith is anything like the two of you, I'm sure he's fine."

"Thank you," Sora smiled. "Thing is, we know one of the people behind his kidnapping is somewhere on this world."

"I'll have the guard keep an eye out for anyone who looks suspicious."

"Thank you."

The throne room door opened slightly and a servant stepped in and bowed. "Your Majesties, some more suitors have arrived and wish to see you."

"And with that, I am leaving." Amira ran for an exit, but her mother caught her by the collar of her dress. "Mother!? Let me go!"

"I know you hate it, but you should at least see them."

The princess groaned. "Seriously? I can understand why you hated the suitors; they're all overdressed, big-headed, pompous windbags! I steal from jerks like them."

"We know," Aladdin smirked, "but at least talk with them. Maybe getting rejected will knock their egos down a few notches."

"Fine…"

Patria smirked. "Suitors huh?"

"Yeah, it stinks…"

Sora shook his head with a smile. "If you don't mind, we'll start looking around for Pith while you deal with this, and you can join us later."

"Sounds good," Aladdin nodded.

Hikari's hand rose slightly. "Um, actually, could I stay here and watch? Since I'm a princess, I'd like to see kinda how this might work. PJ can stay with me, and we'll come later with Amira."

"If you want to, Kari."

"Thanks!"

* * *

Max sat on a rooftop beside Sora. "Dad told me all about this place."

"I bet he did." Sora smiled. "Having you here is wonderful; it's kinda like Goofy being here, but it's also different. You're a lot like your father in some ways: kind, smart, noble…"

"Most people wouldn't call my dad smart."

"He was smarter than me and Donald sometimes." The man admitted with a laugh. "A lot more sensible too. Donald and I were so hot-headed… Goofy kept the peace. I remember when we first met Mulan. Goofy figured out she was a girl in disguise before Donald and me."

Max laughed. "I remember hearing that story. Uncle Donald would always deny that. King Riku would always laugh and make fun of you and Donald."

"Why am I not surprised… Still, it's weird hearing Riku being called a king."

"I bet." Max looked down at the streets. "Well, nothing interesting is going on over here. Want to move to another spot?"

"Sounds good."

* * *

"Pith?"

"Hm?"

Angel smoothed the feathers on one of her wings, cleaning the pristine white feathers. "Could you teach me that song?"

Pith smiled. "Sure. It's actually a duet, but it's a love song."

"I don't mind. It sounds like a happy, comforting song. And I feel like you and I need something like that, and it will help pass the time."

"Sure," The boy scooted over beside her, softly touching her wing. The feathers lay down, so they did not cut him this time.

"You know," the girl smiled, "you remind me of all the stories of your father. I always heard he was cheerful in almost every situation no matter how dark it got, though there were a few times that things got so bad that they broke him(3)… but he was nearly always happy and trying to cheer everyone up.I guess you got that from him."

"I've heard that before. I guess that is something we have in common… except Dad wouldn't know love songs from musicals and then teach them to people. He's much better at words than I am. I prefer to act more than talk." The boy turned to where he faced her. "So, want to get started?"

"Sure!"

* * *

"I remember the last time we came here, Maleficent showed up." Patria looked down into an alleyway. "She cornered Kari and me, but I didn't get a chance to bash her face in."

"What did Maleficent want?"

"I think… she wanted Kari, but I don't know why. Maybe because she's Uncle Riku's daughter."

Kairi looked at her daughter. She could see the dark thoughts behind her daughter's eyes, but the princess couldn't blame her. Everyone in their family wanted to go after Maleficent; Kairi's hand moved to her belly as thoughts of the past came to mind.

After Maleficent forced the miscarriage of their first child(4), Sora had never forgiven her, and Patria still held a grudge after hearing the story as a kid. Kairi couldn't hold onto her anger, but she could still feel the pain of the past. A pain that would never go away.

"Mom?"

"I'm alright…"

* * *

Hikari and PJ giggled at the deadpan expression Amira gave the three suitors in front of her. All of which had to be nearly twice her age. The three men spent the last twenty minutes bragging about their wealth and such, trying to outdo the others.

Eventually, the princess held up a hand. "Lord Fikri, Lord Hasan, Lord Kamal(5), thank you for your gifts, but you have come all this way for nothing. I am not interested in any of you. Thank you for your time, and goodbye." Amira turned and strode away as quickly as she could, followed by Hikari and PJ.

"Well, that looked fun…"

"Ugh!" Amira stormed off to her room. "I'm going to change and go into the city… not just to help find Pith, but to get away from those vultures!" She closed the door and soon came back out in her street clothes. "Let's get out of here."

* * *

"My old gauntlet! It's about time." Dark eyes looked out over Agrabah. "Now, let's have some real fun!"

* * *

A shadow fell over the city as a screech rattled everything in the city. People stopped what they were doing and gaped at the enormous creature overhead. The animal circled and landed atop the palace, shaking the ground.

"What is that!?" Amira and the other two stood on the castle wall.

Aladdin's daughter stared at the creature. "A roc(6)…" The giant animal, a bird with a curved beak of prey, dusty colored feathers flecked with black and gray, stared down at the city, yellow eyes studying it for any signs of a meal.

Hikari could see Sora and the others running in their direction. "We need to stop it before it hurts someone."

"I need to get up there."

"I can help!" PJ summoned his hammer. "I'll toss you up there." Amira pulled a sword(7) from her belt and leapt into the air. The cat swung his hammer; the girl's feet touched the weapon for a second before the momentum launched her into the air.

Hikari followed with an Aero spell just as the others reached the wall.

The two princesses managed to reach the bird's legs as it bat its wings and launched into the sky. They clung to the massive talons as the air rushed past, sucking the wind from their lungs for a moment.

"We need to get it to ground level!" Sora yelled as they chased it.

"I don't think that will be a problem."

The bird landed on the roofs of houses, cracking the stone beneath it as it looked down into the panicked, busy streets. It did not feel Amira and Hikari climbing its feathers to its back.

"Kari, I'll go for its throat, can you keep it from hurting anyone?"

"Of course!" The little girl summoned her Keyblade and ran across the bird's back. The roc bent down to snatch up a camel from the street, but Kari jumped up, striking its beak with a resounding crack.

The roc screeched as the girl landed on the rooftop across it. Its eyes met her own, sending chills up her spine(8). It snapped at her, but the girl hit its beak back every time. She could see Amira climbing up the feathers on the roc's chest, and the others hurrying her way across the rooftops.

Just a little longer.

Her eyes glanced towards Sora and the others for a moment too long. The roc slammed his beak into her chest, sending Hikari tumbling off the rooftop just as Amira reached the bird's neck.

The princess held up the sword to slit its throat, but the bird suddenly vanished and she tumbled to the streets below.

"Bravo…!" Amira looked around and saw a man clapping, a man with pasty-white skin, black hair, dressed in blue, black, and gold robes. "You did quite well."

"What?"

"Never you mind, Princess." the man turned his back on her. "Let's just say that this was a test, and you passed." He stepped into the shadows and vanished.

"Wait!"

* * *

Hikari shook her head as she sat up. Stupid bird…

A set of feet crunched across the sand towards her; she looked up, expecting to see Sora, Kairi, or one of the others, but instead, she found herself face-to-face with a man.

The man, light-skinned, dressed in black, with scars across his body stared down at her. "Hello, Princess Hikari."

"Diaval!?" The girl summoned her Keyblade and leapt up, slashing at Maleficent's minion.

The man gracefully dodged her attacks before kicking the girl in the gut, sending her to the ground. "Apologies, but Lady Maleficent wishes to have a word with you." He reached down to grab her.

A heavy object slammed into Diaval's side. The man fell, stumbling as he tried to keep his footing. His eyes, alight with fury, turned back to see PJ standing beside his friend, hammer in hand. "Just try that again bird-brain!"

"Ah, the son of Pete," the man held up his arms which turned into bird-like wings with talons replacing his fingers. "Why could you not be a coward like your father? Oh, well. This shouldn't take too long…"

PJ brandished his hammer as Hikari stood up behind him. "Kari, go. This guy is mine!"

"Ok, Peej…" She took one last look at the bird-man before running back to find Amira.

"Come on, feather-head!" The cat's hammer sparked with electricity. "Show me what you've got!"

"With pleasure!"

* * *

 **I know this is pretty short, but I had a lot of trouble figuring out what to do for this world, but thank goodness the Aladdin cartoon exists.**

 **Please review!**

 **Seriously… I want your feedback.**

* * *

Footnotes:

(1) Thundra and Eden are characters in the Aladdin TV show.

(2) This is the song "All I ask of You" from Phantom of the Opera.

(3) Things are going to happen in the KH3 rewrite guys… The sunshine boy is going to break.

(4) Maleficent used magic to kill their first child, and she tried to make Kairi infertile.

(5) In Arabic, Fikri means intellectual, Hasan means handsome, and Kamal means perfection. Basically, what these three think of themselves.

(6) The roc was a mythological bird in Arabic and Persian folk tales. The bird was known to go to and from Madagascar, but its home was the seas of China and was large enough to grab elephants in its talons.

(7) Like Aladdin uses in KH1 and 2.

(8) You want to know what kind of eyes I mean, go look up the hawk from the kid's movie "The Seventh Brother". That hawk terrified me as a kid, and it's still creepy today.

* * *

 _VAs:_

 _Amira- April Stewart (Jessamina Kaldwin, Christie, Lucrecia Crescent, Izumi, Mjrn)_

* * *

 **Freedom**

For those of us in the US, not too long ago, we had Independence Day. So, I wanted to remind people about the freedom God has given all of us.

Galatians 5:1 says, " _For freedom, Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery._ "

We have been freed from sin and darkness, but we do have to accept it and not give ourselves back over to sin and slavery.

And even when we are freed, sometimes we take it for granted and try to please ourselves alone thinking that because we have been freed from sin, we can do whatever we want (even sin) and we'll be alright. Only a few verses later, Paul actually discusses this.

Galatians 5:13 says, " _For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another._ "

We are called to use the love that God has given to us to love one another, as verse 14 says, " _For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself'._ "

We should use the freedom we are given to help others, and this is not just for Christians. Whether you believe in God or not, this is a good word to live by, treating others kindly and sharing love, whether or not you agree with them. We have freedom and love, let's share it with others.


	12. Chapter 11: Agrabah- Mozenrath

**Here's the next chapter!**

 **I hope you like it!**

 **Kingdom Hearts © to Disney and Square Enix!**

 **Aladdin © to Disney!**

 **Phantom of the Opera © to Andrew Loyd Webber!**

 **OCs © to me!**

* * *

 **Chapter 11: Agrabah- Mozenrath**

* * *

PJ brought down his charged hammer, barely missing the bird-man. Diaval leapt up, charging at him, but the cat moved surprisingly fast, pulling up a shield of lightning which sent Diaval flying back.

"What? Did you think I was weak like my dad?" PJ hefted up the hammer. "Riku taught me well. I can hold my own."

Diaval stopped, looking at the cat for a moment. "Indeed, you are better than your father, but still not strong enough." He charged, swiping at his opponent. His attacks came swift, throwing PJ off balance, but the boy managed to put up a shield of wind around himself(1).

"Hey!" Kairi leapt down, swiping at Diaval; her eyes flashed with fury and a white glow surrounded her as she stared down Maleficent's servant. "PJ, you alright?"

"I'm fine, Ms. Kumo."

Diaval looked at the pair before turning into a raven and flying away. Kairi let out a sigh and the glow around her faded. "Let's get back to the others."

The two climbed back on the roofs, where the others awaited them.

"Man, what happened here?"

Everyone looked up and saw a flying carpet and a red bird. Amira waved. "Iago! Carpet! I'm glad you're back!"

The carpet flew around her happily and then moved to Sora. Iago gaped at the sight of him and Kairi. "Wow! You two really sprouted."

"Good to see you too, Iago."

"So," the bird landed on Amira's shoulder, "what happened here?"

"Some freaky dude unleashed a roc on the town."

"Yipe…"

Sora stretched his arms, "Well, it's taken care of, so we better head back and let Jasmine and Aladdin know."

* * *

"A roc…" Aladdin mused. "Genie told me about them once, said they were almost nonexistent now. Why would one attack Agrabah?"

Piping up, Amira answered, "A man was controlling it, but I don't know who he was."

"Hm, we'll have to look into it more later. Right now, your mother and I need to go survey the damage." Aladdin and his wife waited for some guards to show up before heading outside into the town.

"What now?"

"I guess we wait…"

"Princess Amira," a servant bowed, "another suitor has arrived and is awaiting you in the audience chamber."

The princess groaned. "Really!? Ugh! I'll be right there… once I change." She stormed off, coming back minutes later, in her princess garb, but the others could still see a layer of dirt on her arms and face. "I am not wasting my time to take a bath just so I can turn down another jerk." Everyone followed her into the audience chamber. Amira looked up at the suitor and gasped. "You!? Y-you're the man I saw! The one who sent the roc!"

Everyone stopped, looking at the pale young man dressed in blue. Iago squawked and ducked behind Amira. "Mozenrath!?"

"Mozenrath?" Amira gasped. "My father told me about you! You're the sorcerer that gave them so much trouble!"

The pale young man grinned. "I'm flattered Aladdin remembered me, your highness." He glanced over at Sora and the others. "And Keyblade wielders… I never did get to meet you, but I heard a lot about you."

"How are you here?" Amira straightened up, glaring at Mozenrath. "Genie sent you away with magic(2)."

"Now that is a long and tragic tale, but alas I don't have time for it." He held up his right hand, covered by a brown gauntlet. Magic sparked above it. "I am here for Agrabah, and while it would be simple to marry you and become sultan that way, I'd rather not be stuck with you! You have too much of your parents in you, so we'll do this another way." An image appeared of a land with no sun and black sand. There, they could see Jasmine and Aladdin, trapped inside black crystals.

"What!?" Sora summoned his Keyblade. "Release them!"

The young sorcerer laughed. "I think not. So, here's what you are going to do, summon Genie, from wherever he is, and send him to me. Then I will come and you will hand over Agrabah to me." Sora charged, but Mozenrath simply teleported away. "Now, now. You should ask that feathered friend of yours if you should be doing this. I am not someone you want to cross, Keybearer. Remember, Princess, I want Genie. You have until sunset tomorrow." He turned around, as Sora charged him.

Sora skidded to a stop as a tornado of sand shot up in front of him. From the tornado stepped a girl with teal hair, dressed in a military-esque outfit. "Come, Mozenrath."

"Jazzy!?"

The girl gave them an uninterested look before sand surrounded her and Mozenrath. When it faded, they were gone.

"We need to go, now!" Amira turned. "Patria, could you please get Razoul, and hurry!" The princess hurried off to her room as Patria rolled her eyes and went for the guard.

The red-head found the large guard outside the palace. "Hey! Big guy!"

"What do you want?" He grumbled.

"The princess wants you. If you weren't aware, the sultan and the queen got captured."

Razoul stiffened. "You lie! I would know…"

"Captain!" Another guard stumbled towards them. "A woman who could control sand captured the sultan and the queen!"

"Now you tell me!" The captain turned around and ran into the palace, and Patria followed behind. They came into the throne room just as Amira came in, dressed in her street clothes. "Princess!?"

She looked up and smiled. "Razoul!"

"What are you doing, Princess?"

As she pulled up the hood of a blue cloak, which Sora recognized as belonging to Aladdin's father Cassim, she spoke. "Mozenrath has returned and has captured my parents with the help of a girl named Jazzy. I am going after them, and I am leaving you in charge. All I ask is that you do not arrest everyone while I am gone."

"But Princess…"

"Please Razoul! Do not make me have to order you to do this." She sighed. "You're the only person I trust to lead in my stead."

The guard opened his mouth to answer, but paused, a smile decorating his face. "Of course, your Highness. Be careful, please.(3)"

"I will. Mr. Kumo, you and the others can take Carpet. I'll ride my horse, and I can carry one more person, so Carpet has an easier time."

"What about me?" Iago flapped in front of Amira.

"Go get Genie. Now that I know who we're dealing with, I know what to do."

The bird grinned. "You're sending me away from danger; you're a saint, Amira!"

"Just go!"

* * *

Patria leaned against her dad as they flew on Carpet across the desert, sleep overcoming her mind. She found herself sitting on the beach of her home with her dark oppressor standing nearby.

"Haven't heard from you in a while."

" _I wonder, do you believe what you heard about my plans?_ "

"You mean, what Xext told the others?" The girl refused to look at him. "Maybe I do, maybe I don't. I just don't understand what you have to gain from all this. I get the plot with my brother… but nothing else. Trying to make wars and hostile takeovers happen… it just doesn't make sense. And what's this all about? Trying to see if I can read your mind or something? Apparently, I can only do that when I'm near Braig." She stood up. "I'm surprised you haven't tried to take me over or threatened my family like last time."

" _Perhaps I am biding my time for the perfect moment._ "

"Perhaps you are…"

* * *

"Patria, wake up." Sora gently nudged his daughter until she sat up. "Sorry, Amira, you were saying."

Carpet flew down low, beside Amira's horse, on which sat the princess and PJ. The girl kept her eyes focused ahead. "Father and Genie told me all about Mozenrath. He's very powerful, but physically he's weak, and he can't use offensive spells if we get too close. Our best bet is to get near to him and fight without magic."

"Then I can take him," Patria smirked.

"We," her father cut in, "we can take him. Amira, you, Patria, and I can take Mozenrath. As for Jazzy…"

Hikari piped up. "We can take her! She uses sand to fight, and PJ's hammer uses lightning. So we just have to turn her sand to glass and send the glass at her, like Glace did."

"Except there's more sand here than air." Max huffed. "We can't be standing on sand while we fight her or we're screwed."

"Unless we turn the sand to glass beneath us first," Kairi added. "I can cast a strong Thundza spell when we encounter her, and that will give us solid ground to stand on."

"Sounds good, Aunt Kairi."

* * *

As they came into a strange land, overcast with black sand. They could see a citadel of stone. Heartless roamed around and they could see Jazzy standing at the entrance.

Kairi, Hikari, and Max jumped off Carpet as Amira climbed on. "Honey," Kairi looked up at her husband, "once we create an opening, get in there."

"Got it." He leaned down, and they kissed before Kairi led the others up towards the fortress.

The Heartless all charged, but Max jumped on his skateboard and plowed through them. "Take that!"

Jazzy watched as they made their way closer before she walked down to meet them. Kairi kept her eyes on the girl at all times, and as soon as the assassin came down the walkway and her feet touched the sand, Kairi held her Keyblade up. "THUNDZA!" Massive bolts of lightning thundered down, striking the ground around them, turning it all into glass. Jazzy leapt back, the lightning threatening to singe her, leaving the way open for Carpet to fly the others into the fortress.

"Princess Kairi, this is an honor." The mutant(4) girl straightened up, pushing back her teal ponytail. "I hoped to face the Princess of Purity(5) in battle one day."

Kairi smirked. "Did you? Well, I hope you are prepared to lose."

"I should be saying that to you." Jazzy held up a hand and the sand around them swirled into the air before descending upon them.

"PJ now!"

The cat leapt into the air, his hammer charged with electricity, as he slammed it into the ground, sending out waves of electricity in all directions, turning the black sand into a foggy glass. Hikari then leapt in, glowing as she began to spin, magic surrounding her(6); the glass shattered and became a tornado around the girl.

Jazzy summoned more sand to act as a shield, but Kairi charged, forcing the mutant out of her protective shell, just as Hikari launched the glass into the air. Kairi cast Shieldza and Max's skateboard turned into a shield with which he covered himself and PJ.

The mutant tried to dodge the glass, but numerous shards stuck into her. "Not this again… I can't lose like this!" She drove her hands into the sand around her and grinned. "You will not win this time!"

Out of the sand rose a large, lumpy, hulking figure made of sand, with red eyes(7). It let out a roar that shook the sand and glass beneath them.

* * *

Carpet shot through the halls before coming into a large room full of… "Zombies!?"

"Mamluks!" Amira corrected. "But basically the same things, Mozenrath and the former king, Destane, turned the citizens of this land into zombie slaves, or Mamluks, and Mozenrath eventually turned Destane into one."

"Yes, and aren't they magnificent." A blast of magic sent Carpet flying out of the room and the others tumbled to the ground. Mozenrath stood at the other end of the room, his gauntlet glowing. The wall behind him shimmered and vanished, revealing two large black crystals, containing Jasmine and Aladdin. "Now, I don't see the genie with you, so I assume you're here to fight. No matter, the genie will come anyway, even if I kill you."

Sora reached to his side and drew Dawn's Might. "Release Jasmine and Aladdin!"

"No Keyblade? I'm insulted."

Sora charged at him from the front while Amira and Patria came in from the sides. Mozenrath held up his gauntlet, unleashing a wave of magic at them. Sora skidded to a stop, blocking with his katana as the two girls slid under the magic wave.

"Surprise!" Patria leapt up, bringing up her fist and slamming it into the young sorcerer's face.

* * *

Pith stood up in the cell, stretching. His back still felt stiff and sore, but at least he could move without too much pain. Angel lay against one of the walls, her wings encasing her once again as she slept.

They'd spent the entire day learning the song, "All I Ask of You", and the girl seemed to really like it, and it made the time pass just a bit faster in this dingy cell.

The boy walked towards the bars of the cell. The cell. It alerted Xext and the others if someone used magic in it. Though, it wasn't like Pith had been in any shape to use magic or summon his Keyblade.

But now, he held his arm out through the bars, expecting to feel some sort of forcefield right outside the bars, but his arm slipped out all the way. "Yes!" He concentrated and his Keyblade, Dramatic Fighter, appeared in his hand.

With some effort, he turned it around, pointing it at the cell. A flash of light came from the weapon before the cell bars began to shift. The boy dismissed his Keyblade and pulled his hand back into the cell just before the cell bars rose upward.

"Angel!" Pith ran to the girl, nudging her gently with his foot. Her wings unfolded and she looked up at him. "Let's go!" He held out a hand."

"Go where?"

"Home."

* * *

Max held up his shield as the sand monster brought its giant fist down on him. His knees buckled as the weight hit his shield.

"Max!" Hikari leapt up, slashing through the sand arm, but her Keyblade went right through it, so she turned and cast Thunder. The arm turned to glass, confusing the monster just before the girl slammed her Keyblade into it, shattering the arm.

Kairi smiled. "Same as before! Turn it to glass!"

"And I'll break the glass!" Max hefted up his shield.

"Ms. Kumo," PJ turned to her, "we'll handle the monster."

"And I'll handle Jazzy!" As the three began carrying out their plan, Kairi ran around the monster; the teal-haired girl sat on a rock, picking out the glass shards embedded in her body. "Give up, Jazzy!"

The assassin looked up, eyes burning with pain and anger. "I hate this little trick of yours! And I will beat it!"

"But not today. Now, where is my son!?"

"Not telling…" Jazzy pulled out the last large shard before a dark corridor opened up behind her. She rolled backward, over the rock and slipped inside just as Max and the others completely shattered the, once sand, now glass, monster.

"Jazzy! Get back here!" Kairi charged the portal, only for it to close when she got close. "No…"

Hikari saw her and walked over, hugging the princess. "Don't worry, Aunt Kairi. We'll find him."

"Yeah…thank you, Hikari."

* * *

Mozenrath stumbled back, clutching his cheek. "You insolent…!"

"Watch your back!" Amira slammed into him. "Patria! Get his gauntlet!"

The redhead, grabbed the young man's arm, twisting it behind him before pulling off the gauntlet on his arm. "Ugh!" Under the gauntlet was a grotesque arm; a skeleton with bits of flesh hanging off. She threw Mozenrath to the ground. "That is gross."

"What happened to your arm?" Sora approached, sheathing his blade.

The sorcerer refused to answer, so Amira did it for him. "The gauntlet has a price, to use magic with it, you give up your life force."

"I pity you," Sora pulled him to his feet. "Let's get you back to Agrabah. When Genie gets here, he can…"

"SORA!"

The spiky-haired man found himself pulled into a massive blue bear hug. "Genie!?"

The blue man held him high. "Look at you!? All grown up!"

"It's good to see you too! We'll have to talk later. Can you get Jasmine and Aladdin out?"

Only now did Genie see the crystals. "Oh!?" He snapped his fingers and the crystals began shrinking. In a few moments, Jasmine and Aladdin stood panting, on the ground.

"Mother! Father!" Amira pulled off her hood and ran to them.

As they hugged, Mozenrath tried to crawl away, only for Patria to grab him by the collar. "What do we do with this guy?"

"I'll take care of him!" Genie twirled his finger and a ribbon wrapped around Mozenrath. "There, all wrapped up as a gift for the guards!"

Sora, however, didn't listen or laugh at the joke, as his eyes fixed on Amira and her parents. "Pith… we'll find you soon. Just hang on."

* * *

Pith and Angel slipped through the quiet halls of the Castle that Never Was, checking every corner for enemies. "This place is a maze, but I bet if we keep going down, we'll find a way out."

"I hope so…" Angel clung to him. "I've never explored… they wouldn't let me."

"Let's just keep going."

The castle seemed deserted, quiet, without even a Heartless in sight. Lower and lower, they went until they found an open area, leading outside. Pith checked for any sign of trouble before making a break for the exit, pulling his friend behind him.

Suddenly, a sharp pain broke out on the backs of his legs. "Ah!" He rolled over and saw. "Angel?!"

The girls' wings dripped with his blood, but she didn't look at him. He saw her eyes, glazed over.

"Did you really think you could escape?" Briana walked into view, followed by Cander. "Poor little Angel led astray by you…"

"Leave her alone!"

The assassin looked down at him. "You care about her? How stupid. She's nothing but a pawn, not worth keeping alive if not for her powers. I know her brother wouldn't miss her." Briana smirked as Pith's face turned to anger. "Aw, you're angry. Good. Angel, take him back to his cell and bandage his wounds. No healing spells. We don't want him to be able to run again."

Angel nodded and grabbed Pith by the collar. Cander, still keeping his control over the girl, escorted them back to the cells.

Angel threw Pith inside and jumped in herself. Cander tossed them some bandages and she applied them to the deep slashes on the back of Pith's legs. The cell bars came down with a clang.

Pith watched as Angel's eyes cleared up. She looked at him. "Pith?"

"Hey…"

"What…?" She looked at him, his legs and the blood on them, and at her still present wings… dripping with his blood. "Oh no! I-I'm so sorry! I didn't want to… I didn't... "

He grabbed her shaking hands. "It wasn't your fault! Cander made you do it. I'm alright… I mean, this does give us more time to work on that song, doesn't it?" Angel didn't reply; her wings vanished as her whole body shook. "Angel…" He pulled her into a hug. "It's not your fault. Please don't cry." He held her as she continued to sob. " _No more talk of darkness. Forget these wide-eyed fears. I'm here, nothing can harm you. My words will warm and calm you. Let me be your freedom. Let daylight dry your tears. I'm here, with you, beside you. To guard you and to guide you._ " He paused, waiting to see if she'd finish, but she just continued to cry. " _Let me be your shelter. Let me be your light. You're safe, no one will find you. Your fears are far behind you…_ "

" _All I want is freedom. A world with no more night…_ " Quietly, Angel whispered the next two lines before her voice drifted off into sniffles and hiccups.

* * *

 **Oh, that fluff!**

 **I'm literally in tears!**

 **Please review!**

* * *

Footnotes:

1) Exactly like Pete does in KH2.

2) This was the last time Mozenrath was seen in the TV show.

3) While Razoul never really liked or trusted Aladdin, he was very loyal to the sultan and Jasmine, meaning he would probably be just as loyal to Amira, despite her father being Aladdin.

4) For those who don't remember, Jazzy is a mutant from the X-men world.

5) Wait for the next KH3 chapter ;)

6) Spellweaver.

7) This is the same Sand Monster that Sadira uses to try and get Jasmine out of the way in the episode of the Aladdin TV show, " _Strike up the Sand_ ".

* * *

 **What is Love?**

What is love?

What does it mean to love?

Love is a word we like to use a lot today. We have people in love. Love your neighbor. Love your enemies. You love your family and friends. The power of true love. But what does love really mean?

If we love someone, do we have to agree with everything they do or say? If we love someone, do we just let them do things that can hurt them without saying anything? What should we do when we love someone?

A lot of times, we hear verses about love at weddings, but these verses can be applied to anyone at any time, not just for love between spouses, but between friends and neighbors.

John 15:13 says, " _Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends._ "

Romans 13:9-10 says, " _For the commandments, 'You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not covet,' and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law._ "

But love is something we all need, without love, we're just a bunch of grumpy people who hate everything, and I don't think most of us want to be that kind of person. So, this is what love is, this is what we should be like when we show love:

1 Corinthians 13:4-8, " _Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away._ "

This is what love is.


	13. Chapter 12: Atlantica- Missing Persons

**Here's the next chapter!**

 **I'm not entirely happy as to how this chapter turned out, but whatever.**

 **I don't know how often I'll be able to do chapters since I start college classes tomorrow.**

 **Well, enjoy the chapter.**

 **Kingdom Hearts © to Disney and Square Enix!**

 **The Little Mermaid © to Disney!**

 **OCs © to me!**

* * *

 **Chapter 12: Atlantic- Missing Persons**

* * *

"Finally! I am free! And I have the power to destroy my enemies!"

"Indeed. Now, you will hold up our end of the deal?"

"Of course…"

* * *

" _So, you guys went to Olympus?_ "

"Yep," Ryô smiled at the image of Blaze on the screen, "and you went to the Pride Lands. Sounds fun." He sighed. "And you at least found some sort of reasoning behind the actions of Briana's goons."

" _Yeah, we did._ " The red-head nodded. Suddenly, she stopped, turning around to look and listen to someone. " _Sorry, Ry. I've gotta go. We're coming up on a new world._ "

The boy looked at the radar near him. "Same thing here. Talk to you later, Blaze."

" _Later, Ry._ "

The boy sighed and pressed the button calling everyone else to the cockpit. "Well, this should be fun…"

* * *

"I am so glad we don't have to be merpeople again."

"I don't know, Justin." Xally grinned, "I had fun!"

Terra took in a deep breath, allowing the ocean air to fill his lungs. "Well, let's go find Ariel and Eric. We need to see if they know anything about Pith." The group walked up towards the castle. In the water, merpeople went to and fro. They all smiled to see the two worlds getting along, but something seemed off. None of the merpeople smiled.

They looked sad and angry.

"And it looks like the Sovereign Enforcers have started here. Creating more problems and dissention." Luna's hand clenched as she saw a mermaid wiping away a tear as her angry husband held her close.

"And just when things were starting to get good around here."

"Calm down everyone! We can't just toss around blame when none of us know what is happening."

Glacies quickened her pace. "That's Eric."

Coming around to the front of the castle that faced the town, they saw a mob of people. Ariel and Melody stood far away as Eric attempted to calm the angry crowd.

"You only say that because you married one of them!"

"Leave Ariel out of this!"

Ariel looked over and saw the group; she let out a sigh of relief as she pulled her daughter towards them. "Oh, I am so glad to see you!"

"Good to see you too." Aqua bowed. "We haven't been here since the day you brought her to meet the merpeople(1)." She gestured to Melody. "So, what is going on here?"

Melody rubbed her shoulders, glancing at the angry mob. "Some kids have been going missing by the shore. People are blaming the Atlanticans for it, even saying that Mother is orchestrating it all."

"That's so stupid!"

"Yes, it is." Terra groaned. "You were right, Luna. They've already started working here."

Ariel looked between them. "Who?"

"There's a group of people who have kidnapped Pith, and now they're going around stirring up trouble on other worlds."

"Pith!?"

Ryô nodded. "Yes, apparently they might be just distracting us or trying to make darkness more prevalent on other worlds. Either way, they're probably behind this whole thing, them and someone from your world."

"I will let Eric know… and maybe you could try and convince these people…"

"We can try." Terra straightened up and strode over beside Eric. At first, the man seemed surprised to see Terra, but soon gave a grateful smile and stepped back. "Everyone, please calm down. My name is Terra. I and those with me have been tracking down a group of people that have been trying to cause trouble all over the place. We believe that they are responsible for what has happened here. If you give us time, we can prove this."

"And if you're wrong," cried a woman, "my son will die if he isn't dead already!"

"We will find them, I give you my word. Just give us some time and do not judge the Atlanticans too quickly and harshly."

The people muttered amongst themselves before a man stepped forward. "Fine. Two days. We want an answer then."

"Thank you."

Slowly the people dispersed, the ruler stepped up beside the Keyblade Master. "Thank you, Terra. I thought the people were going to riot."

"Don't worry, your highness, we will take care of this situation."

"Not without me," Eric shook his head. "This is my kingdom; I'm helping."

"Alright." Aqua and the others approached. "Perhaps we should split up. If people are vanishing into the ocean we should have some of us searching down there. The rest of us can search up here."

Melody grinned. "I'll go with the group in the ocean!"

"Melody…"

"May I?"

"... Alright."

* * *

Terra nodded. "I guess I'll go with Melody," he looked around and saw the pleading face of his daughter, "as well as Xally. Who else wants to go?"

"My prince," Luna bowed her head, "I'm curious about this world, I'd like to join them."

"Go ahead, Luna." The blond boy smiled. "Guess that means I, Aunt Aqua, Justin and Glace will stay up here."

Ariel nodded. "I can go talk with my father and see what he can do."

"Alright."

* * *

"I love this!" Xally held her fin and giggled.

"Remember why we're here, Xal." Terra tested his fin before swimming towards the shoreline. "We need to find a place where some of us can hide and watch, while the others search. Melody, Xally, you two stay here. It'll be getting dark soon, so keep an eye out."

"Yes, sir!"

Luna and Terra swam off, leaving the two girls alone. After a long time, they saw a merman swimming their way: a boy with blond hair. He waved. "Mel Mel!"

"Alex(2)!" Melody swam over and hugged him. "What are you doing here? It might not be safe."

"I heard from my parents that you were here. I just wanted to check on you." He smiled. "Anyway I can help?"

Xally nodded. "We're keeping an eye out for whatever has been taking kids. If we see it, we need to follow."

"Alright."

* * *

Aqua knocked on the door to a house; a young woman, clutching a little boy opened the door. "What do you want?"

"We're going to find the missing children." She calmly spoke. "I heard your daughter was one of the kid; please, tell us all you know. It will help us locate her."

The woman studied the Keyblade Master for a moment before stepping to the side. Coming inside, Aqua saw three other children. "My husband is a sailor," the woman said as she sat down the child in her arms, "Elin loved to go to the docks and watch for his ship. One night, she did not come back. Two other children were with her, also watching for the same ship. Vibeke and her brother Kasper. They never came back either. We searched for days but could not find them. Then, my nephew Sigurd, who'd gone to look for them, vanished as well." She gestured to the two elder children in the room. "Orla and Rikke wanted to go look for them, but I couldn't let another one of my babies die."

"They might be alive." Aqua soothed.

"I wish that to be true, but I do not trust that hope. None of us do." The woman stood up. "That's all I have to say."

Aqua nodded and began to leave. "Miss!" One of the other children came running out, Orla. "I-I kinda snuck out one night and saw something that might help. It was when my friend Lis went missing. I saw something come out of the water and walk on land. I don't think it was an Atlantican… it was glowing and much bigger than a person, but no one believes me."

"Orla, thank you…"

* * *

As night fell, Aqua and the others sat on the beach, watching the ocean. The town was silent, everyone hiding inside.

"You sure about this, Justin?"

"Of course!" The boy stepped out onto the beach and began to look at the shells. He'd offered to be bait for whatever creature came. His eyes watched the sea, but they saw nothing in the moonlight.

* * *

"What's that!" Luna pointed. She and Terra watched a cloud of white foam jet through the water. "I don't think that's normal."

"Me neither. Follow it!"

They swam after the foam, but it shot away, leaving them behind.

The foam passed by Xally and went up into the waves overhead. "Whoa! Did anyone see that!?"

"I did."

"Same," Alex looked at the two girls, "but I've never seen anything like that before."

* * *

Justin paused as he heard a noise. He looked and saw a white horse, beautiful, nearly glowing in the moonlight, come out of the waves. It looked at him and whinnied, turning its flank to him, as if inviting the boy to climb on its back.

"A horse?" Glacies narrowed her eyes at the beautiful creature.

"Glowing and taller than a man…" Aqua recited from Orla's description.

Eric suddenly gasped as he pointed. "Look, its hooves are backward! It's a Kelpie(3). That's what's been taking the kids; Justin needs to get away!"

The boy in question stared at the horse. He knew it was dangerous to get on its back, but it couldn't hurt to pet the beautiful creature. Reaching out his hand, he went to pet it.

"JUSTIN NO!"

His hand touched its flank just as Eric cried out. "What?" He tried to pull away, but… "My hand! It's stuck!" His hand seemed glued to the horse's flank. The white animal whinnied and began running into the water, dragging the boy with it. "MOM! GLACE!"

Justin gasped for breath before the creature pulled him under. He caught a glimpse of Xally, Melody, and a young merman as the creature pulled him straight down. A bubble covered his mouth, offering some oxygen as they dove deeper and deeper into the depths.

Eventually, the air grew thin in the bubble and darkness took the boy.

* * *

"After them!" The three merpeople began to swim. "Alex, wait here! My dad and Luna will need to know where we went."

"But!"

"Just do it!"

The two girls swam as fast as they could, but in the dark water, the foamy figure that pulled Justin away faded into the blackness. "What now, Xally?"

"Give me a moment." Closing her eyes, the girl reached out, attempting to sense her brother's presence. "Down further, and towards the open ocean." They dove down, following her senses into an unknown, dark crevice.

* * *

Eventually, they came to a cave that opened up above them. Slowly going up, they found themselves in clean air once more. From where they floated, they could see a rocky cave that looked like some sort of house, but with rocky cells lining the back.

There, they saw a white horse drag Justin's unconscious body into one before the animal vanished into foam and slid into the water.

Nearby, a table and chair of rock stood, and sitting on the chair was a creature that looked like a manta ray, in some respects: a purple-skinned humanoid with a ray-like fin as a cape.

"One of the Keybearers?" A girl strode into view. She had dark skin, pink hair and eyes, and wore a dark purple oriental dress. "I knew they would come eventually."

"Then why didn't you mention them, Rodia?" A the manta-like man hissed.

"You did not need to know at the time, Manta(4)."

Manta snarled. "These Kelpies keep bringing me random children. Yes, I can use them to bargain for the throne and trident, but I want Triton's granddaughter!"

"And you shall have her." Rodia widened her stance and made a sweeping motion with her arms from the water to the shore. Suddenly, Melody and Xally found themselves propelled forward by a floating water projectile. They skidded across the ground, landing at the feet of the girl. "Triton's granddaughter and another Keybearer."

The girls looked up and saw Manta looking down at them, face decorated with a wicked grin. "Now, we can get to work!"

* * *

"Again!"

"Papa, can we take a break, please?"

Vanitas looked at his daughter who stood across from a Spiderchest Unversed. "You've almost got it. Try one more time."

"Yes, Papa." The girl clutched her staff as the Unversed performed an attack, spitting a bubble of poison. Vanette began glowing as she held out her staff. The blue glow seemed to seep into her. "Alright… let's try this." Her staff glowed and the girl suddenly spit a bubble of poison, just like the Unversed. "I did it!"

"Good job, Nettie." Vanitas dismissed the creature. She'd progressed so much over the last few days. Going from no way to fight to being able to create a shockwave, from the Bruisers, create fire, from the Red Hot Chili, and she could sink into the ground, from the Flood. Now she could spit poison.

The little girl giggled, wiping the purple sludge from her lips. "Thank you, Papa!" Akame nuzzled her. "So, you said Braig liked to come here?"

"Yeah, he likes to come here and screw with the people here." He looked up and saw the sun falling towards the horizon. "I guess we can spend the night in that abandoned cottage." The two walked through the forest and found themselves at a cottage with a small mill in the running stream.

As her father went out to look for firewood, Vanette pulled the rations out of her satchel. Some salted meat and vegetables... nothing much. Maybe her father could find more. The girl began to look around the cottage, she found a few dresses around and some cloth, mostly in green, blue, and pink colors.

"Vanette!"

"Coming, Papa!" She ran down the stairs. She could see Vanitas laying wood in the fireplace. "Do we want to use some of the meat we brought?"

He nodded. "Yeah, we'll go into the town tomorrow and buy some more food."

They ate and soon little Vanette began to rub her eyes. Vanitas picked her up and carried her up to one of the bedrooms. He laid her in bed, smiling as she curled up with Akame.

Suddenly, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up and a painful shudder ran through his body.

An Unversed just died.

Out in the forest, a single eye looked down at the vanishing blue creature. "Vanitas… now you're here... This is going to be fun."

* * *

 **I don't know how I feel about this chapter, but here it is.**

 **Please review!**

* * *

Footnotes:

(1) I'm making it so that the entire gang came to that event since they never went to Atlantica in my KH3 rewrite.

(2) This is the young merman from the movie.

(3) Kelpies were water horses in Scottish myth that would drag children down to their deaths.

(4) This is Evil Manta from "The Little Mermaid" tv series, but I am going with the story that he was never freed before, so he never turned good in the end.

* * *

 _VAs:_

 _Rodia- Alex McKenna (Senna, Mickey Apple, Lindsay Flatt, Abby Macy)_

* * *

 **Judge or Judge Not?**

We have one of the most quoted passages in the bible sitting as the most misquoted passages as well. We hear "don't judge" thrown around all the time. But when one looks at the entire passage, there is a lot more to this and the "don't judge" line makes a little more sense.

Matthew 7:1-6, " _Judge not, that you be not judged._ _ **2**_ _For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you._ _ **3**_ _Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?_ _ **4**_ _Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye?_ _ **5**_ _You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye._

 _ **6**_ " _Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you._ "

Let's start with the middle of this passage, with the part that talks about the speck in your brother's eye and the log in your own. This here is telling you to make a judgment, about yourself, look at yourself and see what you need to improve on, or what you need to let God improve in you. If you are doing something wrong, screaming at someone else to stop doing that same thing isn't going to do anything but tick them off and make you look stupid and rude.

Then if we jump up to what judgment you use will be used to you, that is pretty self-explanatory. If you go around pointing fingers, and chewing people out about every little thing, people will do the same to you, probably about your pointing fingers. Here's the thing, instead of yelling at random people, which isn't going to help a thing, build a relationship with them. Love them, then you can say 'hey, this probably isn't the best thing for you to be doing'. That way they know you and understand that your concern comes out of a place of love and not judgment. Even Jesus did this. He ate supper with the tax collectors and sinners; he spent time with them and loved them.

Now, as for that last verse about dogs and pigs, basically, that means don't waste your time arguing with someone who isn't going to listen at all. If you are trying to tell someone that they are in the wrong and they don't care, they won't listen to you. Don't waste their time and yours arguing with them!

Build that relationship first, and then tell them in a loving way and out of love. Don't bash it over their heads. Do it in love. Let them speak into your life and be able to correct you when you need it so then you can speak into their lives as well.


	14. Chapter 13: Atlantica- Devil Fish

**I'm not pleased with this chapter, but whatever…**

 **It was one of those chapters where I thought I had a good idea, but when I started writing it turned out to be not as good as I hoped, but since I already wrote part one, I was kinda stuck.**

 **Well, enjoy.**

 **Kingdom Hearts © to Disney and Square Enix!**

 **Luna © to Nintendoman01!**

 **Other OCs © to me!**

* * *

 **Chapter 13: Atlantica- Devil Fish**

* * *

"Well, at least we found the missing kids." Xally huffed.

She and Melody sat in a cell. Their legs still fins, so the two girls could hardly move across the floor. Next to them, Justin lay in the cell, hands bound behind him. "Yeah, we found them, but your brother is still out and we can't really go anywhere."

"You should give up now." Rodia huffed. She waved her fingers, allowing water to swirl around them.

Melody and Xally both glared at the girl. "So, where'd you find Mr. tall, dark, and spooky?"

"A volcano.(1)"

"My dear, Rodia," Manta smirked, "are you giving away information to our guests?"

"I am doing whatever I want. The two Keybearers belong to me, and you can have the little princess."

"What do you want with me?" Melody glared at the dark creature. "And why are you taking these kids?"

The manta looked over at her, unable to go over and intimidate her due to his lack of legs, "I want Atlantica. Long ago, my people ruled there, but we were cast out and I was imprisoned! You are the granddaughter of Triton; he will give me Atlantica, and with Jordhav(2) blaming the Atlanticans for the missing children, I can take over the surface as well and neither kingdom will interfere. If they try, my beautiful Kelpies will take care of them."

As he spoke, Xally saw a head of blond hair sticking up out of the water, watching and listening. Alex! The young merman locked eyes with the young Keybearer before diving under the water.

* * *

Alex swam as fast as he could away from the cave. The girls wanted him to go get Terra, but he had a feeling in his gut, so he followed them. Good thing too.

His tail propelled him towards Atlantica. His eyes looking for Ariel, King Triton, and/or Master Terra. He soon saw the red-haired mermaid. "Lady Ariel!" He stopped, exhausted. "Melody… and Xally. They're in trouble. They got caught by a manta who wants to take over Atlantica and the surface! He has all the kids too!"

"What!?" Terra swam over with Luna at his side. "Show us where!"

"Follow me." The three swam down into the depths.

* * *

Vanette looked up at the tall castle. "Wow!" Vanitas smirked as he picked up the parcel of vegetables he just bought. "Papa, do you know who lives there?"

"Yes, King Phillip and Queen Aurora. Aurora is one of the Princesses of Heart. That's why Braig liked to come here."

"Why?"

The man looked up at the castle. "Causing trouble was his favorite pastime, and he loved to screw with good people, Princesses of Heart especially." The two continued walking. "I know he set fires here for fun and stole things from the royal family. I think he also helped Maleficent, who also lives here. Thing is, Braig is a man of habit. He probably still comes here."

"Make way! Make way for the king!"

Heralds began moving through the streets, people parted to make way for a party on horseback. King Phillip with his wife and children beside him.

In a tree nearby, a single eye watched Vanitas and the procession. "Let's have some fun, shall we?"

Vanitas looked down as the family passed. Suddenly someone screamed. Vanitas looked up to see Aurora fall back, a purple arrow sticking out of her chest.

Without thinking, Vanitas lunged forward and caught the queen as she fell. "VANETTE! Heal her!"

* * *

"Attack the surface first?" Manta huffed. "Why?"

"Simple, divide them an conquer. They will not be able to help each other. However, the surface can rally quicker since Atlantica could send messengers to the surface much faster to the surface." Rodia smirked. "You can take over Atlantica any day, but wipe out the surface first and no one can stop you."

Manta strokes his chin. "Perhaps you are right. But the kelpies can only do so much." He closed his eyes. "Ah, I know. An ancient creature… perhaps a Heartless of it would do nicely."

"You will have to show me."

Manta leapt into the water with Rodia leaping after him. The water horses, manes tossing like sea waves, stood along the shore as bodyguards.

"My dad is in trouble," Melody gasped. "We have to get out of here!"

"We will."

Justin soon awoke, his head throbbing from nearly drowning. "Ugh, where am I?"

"In a deep cave." He looked over and saw Xally, Melody, and the missing children. "This guy calling himself Manta, and Rodia are behind this."

"This sucks." The boy pulled at his bindings.

Suddenly, one of the kelpies exploded into steam. Then another, and another. So quickly that the other ones had little time to react before they too vanished into white puffs of air. "Made it in time." Terra leapt up onto the shore, casting the spell to turn him back to human as he did so. Once on land, he began to open up the cells. "You kids alright?"

"Just fine, Dad." His adopted daughter giggled as he pushed her across the ground and into the water. "But we do need to hurry, Rodia and this Manta guy are going to attack the surface."

Terra glanced over at his daughter. "Go, you take Melody and Alex and get back to your mother. Ariel, Luna, and I can get these kids home."

"Alex?"

"Yeah," the boy popped up out of the water, "I brought them here."

Melody grinned, throwing her arms around him. "Alex! You are amazing!"

"You two can kiss later," Xally smirked, "we've gotta move!" The three dove under the water and took off for Atlantica.

Terra untied Justin, smiling. "Now, I know you don't like the merman spell but…"

"...but it's our only way out. Crap."

Ariel sat on the shore, comforting the children of her kingdom. "Terra, we need to get them home. Are you ready?"

"Yes." The Keyblade Master held out his Keyblade. "Get ready, kids." Light filled the room as the children felt their legs merge together. Their way home.

* * *

Vanitas squirmed uncomfortably as he stood in the castle across from Aurora and Phillip's two children, Paul and Rosetta. His own daughter stood by the two children, chatting away as if she'd known them forever.

After Vanette healed Aurora they were all rushed to the castle. Vanitas protested, but got nowhere, especially with those three fairies who recognized him and were very curious about why he would help Aurora.

The door nearby opened and Phillip came outside with Fauna. The king smiled at his two children. "Your mother is going to be just fine, thanks to our two guests."

"That's wonderful, Father!" Rosetta gushed her brown curls bouncing around her face.

"Indeed!" Paul laughed. "I was worried there for a little while."

Phillip turned his attention to Vanitas, who averted his eyes. "The fairies have told me who you are, Vanitas. I owe you my thanks, you and your little one."

"You're welcome!" Vanette piped up happily.

Vanitas let out a long sigh. "You're welcome." He jumped as Fauna came closer to him, looking into his eyes. "Uh, what?"

"You are far different than how Master Yen Sid described you, in personality I mean."

"Well, that was over twenty years ago." The man huffed. "I've changed since then. And, look, I don't mean to sound rude, but Braig is out there. He shot your wife and there's no telling what he might do next. We need to go look for him."

The king nodded. "Please. And again, thank you."

* * *

Xally popped up by the castle dock, Melody and Alex right behind her. "MOM!" A few moments later, Aqua came running down towards them. "There you are!"

"I was waiting to see if any of you would return." She waved her hand; Melody and Xally both turned back into their normal, human selves. "What's happening?"

"There's this guy, called Manta. He's working with Rodia to take over the surface and Atlantica. That's why he had the kids taken, to divide the two kingdoms so that they would be easier to conquer."

Aqua's eyes widened. "Melody, go tell your father." The girl ran off. "Xal, is Justin…?"

"He's fine."

"Good." The master's eyes glanced over at the young merman, "Could you please get King Triton and tell him what's happening?"

The boy nodded. "Yes, ma'am!" Diving underwater, he left.

"We better get ready for a fight."

* * *

The morning brought the people of Jordhav to the docks. Terra and Ariel brought the children back to the surface. Aqua turned them all back human, reuniting the families, much to the joy of everyone.

Once the families went home, Glacies, Justin, and Xally stood on the shore of the sea. Aqua and Terra stood back on the castle walls with Luna and Ryô. Alex had not returned from Atlantica, so the surface prepared for an attack.

The city fell quiet. Across the ocean, a figure came towards them, standing atop the water, or atop something in the water. Rodia. She smirked at them as they drew near to the shore.

"And you're all here." She laughed. "Good."

"Why do this, Rodia!? What's the purpose?"

The girl looked down at the water, tracing lines of foam in the water with her eyes. "I believe Xext talked about the possibilities, so I don't have to talk about it. All you need to know is that this kingdom needs to fall, and I will bring it to its knees."

"What about your manta friend?"

"That fool?" She laughed. "He had such ambition. But he serves me far better in his current form."

"Current form?"

The girl leaped off whatever she stood on, moving her hands upwards. A jet of water came up and froze, creating a platform to stand on. "Yes, meet the Devil Fish(3)." Out of the water leapt what seemed to be Manta, but now two prongs jutted out from his shoulders, where his fins seemed to create a cape. His eyes glowed as a Heartless symbol appeared on his chest.

The Heartless roared and charged the shoreline.

* * *

"Papa," Vanette clutched her staff as they walked through the forest, "why did Braig shoot Queen Aurora?"

"Probably because I'm here. He liked to mess with the Princesses of Heart and make their lives difficult." Vanitas looked down at her. His heart sinking as he looked at her. The little girl clutched at her staff, keeping her eyes on the ground. She looked stiff and scared. Akame appeared on Vanette's shoulder, nuzzling her as Vanitas put his arm around her and pulled her into a hug. "Are you scared?"

She stopped and nodded. "Papa, will Braig hurt me?"

"I won't let him."

"Oh, really?" The two jumped as Braig dropped down from a tree. "Like my game?"

"You mean the attempted murder of Aurora?"

The man's one eye glinted as he looked down at Vanette. "Yeah. Now, who is this little lady."

Unversed suddenly appeared, poised to attack. "Leave my daughter out of this!"

"You brought her here. Now pay the price."

* * *

Manta, or rather the Devil Fish Heartless, flew over the shore and slammed into the castle wall. Glacies ran towards it, Keyblade appearing suddenly. "Use fire! He's a fish. If we dry him out, he'll go down!"

"On it!"

Justin and Xally leapt forward as Rodia moved her hands in a fluid motion(4), sending water towards the two kids. Justin spun his Keyblades as Xally launched her over him, using the Force to fling her Keyblade at the girl. A moment later, she cast Aero, blasting back the water the girl was attempting to launch at them.

Justin and Xally both began casting wind spells, blowing their enemy back. Rodia snarled as she tried to control the water around her, but each spell interrupted each movement until she found herself shoved back into the deep water.

"Take this!" Justin drove his blades into the ground, sending jutting rocks upwards, trapping the pink-haired girl in the rock.

Ryô and Luna ran back to the castle, protecting the building from flying rubble. Ryô put up shields of rock as Luna leapt up, slicing rocks in half.

Terra and Aqua blocked the Heartless' tail as it swung towards the castle. Aqua and Glacies surrounded it with fire spells. Each moment that passed and each spell cast, sent the Heartless convulsing in pain as the flames singed its moist, aquatic skin.

The girls parted, allowing Terra to run in, sakura petals suddenly surrounding him as he darted past, slashing at the Devil Fish(5). A moment later, the Heartless split in half, darkness oozing from the cut, as it dissipated into darkness.

Rodia, in the water, snarled as the Keybearers approached the trapped girl. "Get back!"

"Tell us, what is Braig planning!?"

"Who says Braig is in charge?" A whip of red energy shot out, creating a flash of hot light that drove the Keybearers back. The rock around Rodia crumbled as the whip pulled back; it shot out again, this time a black color, before wrapping around the pink-haired girl. Suddenly, Rodia vanished.

A woman, clad in an interesting outfit, red ruffles on one side with black and white checkered on the other, one red boot and one black boot, and a hat covering her left eye, smirked down at them, her brown braid blowing in the wind.

"Who the heck…?!"

The woman laughed, cracking the whip while it was black, creating a dark portal behind her. "My name is Holly. My husband, Braig, says hello." With that, she leapt into the portal, leaving the ruin of battle behind.

* * *

Vanitas stood in front of Vanette, blocking the arrows from their one-eyed assailant. "Papa! Let me help!"

"Just stay back."

Vanette jumped to the side and spit poison on the ground, hoping to catch Braig in the attack. She gasped as the man suddenly appeared in front of her. "Brave kid." He grabbed her hair and warped away, taking the girl with him. "Let's see where that gets you."

"VANETTE!"

The girl struggled as she appeared with Braig back in the cottage where she and her dad spent the night. "Let me go!"

"Just shut up." He threw her against a wall before grabbing the collar of her coat. "Tell me, brat, why are you and your 'papa' looking for me?"

"I'm not telling you!"

The man's one eye glinted savagely. "You're looking for Pith too, aren't you?" Vanette didn't answer. "I knew it... Now, listen here, and listen well. Tell Vanitas that if he doesn't leave this alone, I'll come for you, and he'll never see his little girl again." Summoning his arrowgun, he slammed it against the girl's skull, sending her crumpling to the ground.

Vanette lay there, oblivious to her surroundings until she felt a small head nuzzling her, and then a set of footsteps running towards her. "Nettie! Nettie!" The girl felt strong arms pick her up and pull her close.

"P-papa?"

"I'm here, baby."

Her vision cleared and she saw the face of her father above her, his expression wrought with worry and fear, which slightly melted away at the sight of his daughter blinking and moving. The girl snuggled up against him. "Papa, I'm alright. He just hit me in the head." She tried to sit up, but the world began to spin.

"Oh, no. I'm taking you home." Vanitas stood up, cradling his daughter in his arms.

Braig would pay for this…

Oh, he would pay…

* * *

 **Ugh, this chapter is eh… well, the Vanitas parts are fun, but the rest kinda sucks.**

 **Please review**

* * *

Footnotes:

(1) Evil Manta was originally trapped in a volcano, and it's the same here.

(2) This is the name of Eric's kingdom. It is actually never named, but it is supposed to be a Danish kingdom despite the Mediterranean look of the castle. Jord means land and hav means sea.

(3) The Devil Fish is a giant manta ray found in the Mediterranean sea, it is specifically the largest, or the giant devil ray, out of all the devil rays.

(4) Rodia is a water bender, and that's how their movements are described.

(5) This is the attack zantetsuken which is used in final fantasy. In bbs, only Terra can use it. 

* * *

_VAs:_

 _Princess Rosetta- Darcy Rose Byrnes (Amber, Ikki, Maricela)_

 _Prince Paul- Zach Callison (James, Steven Universe, Billy Batson, Tarrlock)_

* * *

 **Yes, No, Maybe So**

We pray, we ask, and we get an answer.

God always answers our prayers, though we may not like the answer or understand it yet.

Many times, when we pray and something doesn't happen, we think that we haven't been heard. But we forget, "no" and "wait" are answers too. Now, we may not like those answers, but they are answers none the less. And if He does say no, remember Romans 8:28, " _And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose_."

Sometimes we expect God to do everything for us too. We ask for things and he could be waiting on us. We ask Him for a job, but we don't apply anywhere. Or sometimes, he leaves a decision up to us.

So, when you pray and nothing happens, remember, God could be saying no or wait, or he could be waiting for you to move.


	15. Chapter 14: Monstropolis- Scares

**I'M BACK!**

 **Sorry, got so busy I had to put this on hiatus. But I'm back.**

 **I hope you guys are ready for the rest of this crazy adventure!**

 **Kingdom Hearts © to Disney and Square Enix!**

* * *

 **Chapter 14: Monstropolis- Scares**

* * *

Roxas looked out the window at all the children playing in the mansion courtyard. Viktor sat on the wall, watching the smaller ones run around. In times like these, Roxas wished he'd had a home like this when he first became a Nobody, but at least he could give these kids a home.

His eyes drifted to the stars. "Xi, Yake… be safe."

"Mr. Mukxo! Eve made another giant needle again!"

Of course…

With a sigh, the man turned around and hurried downstairs before their strangest kid could go out searching for dead bodies… again.

* * *

"I have never liked these worlds. Never."

"Dad, you said that last time. But at least we look kinda cool."

Unlike Pride Lands, they all stood on two legs, but their forms looked quite different. Lea looked like a dragon, but instead of scales, thick, stiff fur covered his entire body, though he still wore his long coat over it. Long claws replaced his fingers, horns like that of a ram poked up from his head, and a long tail flicked back and forth.

Xion's, now purple, skin seemed human-like but now black spots covered it; her feet looked like lizard feet and her hands were similar and a short tail with spikes poked out behind her. Her long purple shirt covered the top of her body. Her black hair fell around her head but in long, thick pieces that were solid(1).

Yuyake looked similar to his mother, but with a more lithe, lizard-like body. A burnt orange color tinted the dark green scales on his body, and he still wore his leather jacket. The long tail behind him had little fins on it and his fingers and toes looked more like those of a gecko. His hair looked just like his mother's.

Blaze looked like a bird, a phoenix. Bright red feathers covered her body, with the tail feathers colored various shades or orange, red, pink, blue, and purple. She still wore her black tank top and headphones.

Brimstone looked similar to his dad in form, with a draconic appearance. The same fur than his dad had covered his body, but he had brown feathers on his head and tail. His feet and tail were like those of a bird, and his draconic snout had a beak-like shape. He also wore his red jacket still.

Xion looked down at her clawed hands. "What a weird world. We look scary, but not in the same way as Halloween Town."

"Yeah, more like monsters." The bird-like girl stepped out of the alley they'd disembarked into. "And that doesn't surprise me looking at this now." The others followed her out to see a large factory with monsters of all shapes and sizes walking into it.

Above the factory doors, they saw a logo that looked like an M with an eye in the middle. Underneath it were the words "We Scare Because We Care".

"Doesn't sound caring to me."

Xion stepped out into the open. "Let's check it out. We can try and figure out what's going on here." They all walked toward the building, following the crowd of monsters, some of which talked to one another and others looked at files.

"This looks like any other business on any other world."

Walking inside, they found a fancy entrance hall with a reception desk at the far end of the room. A female monster with snakes for hair sat behind the desk taking phone calls. Xion led the way across the room and stopped at the desk.

The female monster glanced over with her one eye. "Please hold." She turned with a smile. "Hello, how may I help you? Oh, are you the student group?"

"Uh, yes." Xion fibbed. "We were wondering where to go."

"Of course. I'll call your tour guide. My name is Celia; if you need anything, let me know."

"Thank you Celia."

Celia turned back to her computer and made another call. Monsters began to walk into different rooms until the main hall was all but empty.

"Hello." A female, orange, snake-like monster with fins around her eyes strode over. "I'm Ms. Flint, I supervise new scarers. I'll be your tour guide. I assume that these three are your students?"

Lea smirked. "Kids actually. These two are mine, and that one is hers. We agreed to chaperone."

Flint smiled, the fins around her eyes heightening in excitement. "Well we are glad to have you all here. It's always good to find young monsters interested in a career in scaring. Well, welcome to Monsters Incorporated. We are the number one in scream energy. Our factory powers this entire city and many other suburbs around. We have one of the largest collections of doors for human children in the world, carefully matching every child to their ideal monster, to produce superior scream refined into clean, dependable energy."

The group paused, glancing at each other, partially out of confusion and partially out of concern.

"And don't you worry, security is our number one priority. You may have heard that a single touch from a human child can kill you, and that is the truth. Human children are highly toxic." Flint led them into a long room with desks going along. Doors came in on a conveyor belt and lowered down before each station. Smaller monsters put in canisters while big monsters ran into the doors.

Screams of children echoed throughout the room.

It was an awe-inspiring and disgusting sight.

"This way. There are some chairs in the back for guests. If you have questions, you can ask me later. Enjoy!" She led them to a set of chairs in the back.

As they sat, watching all the scarers work, Lea bit his lip. "I don't like this… I don't like it at all.

"I hate it too." Blaze leaned back, crossing her arms in annoyance. "Hey Dad, remember when I used to freak out about a monster in my room at night?"

"Yeah…"

"Think this why?"

Brim huffed. "I hate the idea of kids just getting scared for something like this."

* * *

Roxas walked down the halls of the children's home, making sure lights were out and everyone was asleep at this hour. A scream shook the air.

"Erin!?" Roxas turned, tearing down the hallway to the screaming girl's room. Throwing the door open, he saw the pink-haired girl clutching a pillow to her chest as she sobbed into it. "Are you alright?"

The girl threw herself into the man's arms. "I-It was a monster! It came out of nowhere!"

"Shh… it's alright."

* * *

"That scream!" Xion gasped. A purple lizard-like monster slithered out of a wooden door; past the door, Xion saw a small head of pink hair. "Oh no. That freaky lizard did not just scare one of my babies!?"

Yuyake grabbed his mom's arm. "Mom! You can't blow our cover! They think humans are toxic."

"That was Mika. They scared one of ours."

"And we'll have to deal with it on our end." Lea looked up at a scoreboard on the wall. "That says his name is 'Randall', and he's the number 2 scarer."

Xion glared at the purple lizard. "I'll deal with him sooner or later. No one hurts my babies and gets away with it."

"We will deal with him."

* * *

Roxas closed Mika's door, finally sleeping after that fright. Must have been some nightmare.

No one else seemed to have woken up, or perhaps they heard him dealing with it and went back to sleep.

It was no surprise that the kids had nightmares. These things happened all the time, especially with the younger children. Nobodies or not, they still had nightmares and envisioned monsters in the closet and under the bed.

The clock chimed at 11.

So late.

Stepping toward his own door, Roxas resigned himself to go inside and finally get some sort of sleep.

"AHHHHHH!"

"Ana!?" Turning toward the nearest child's door. "Ana!" The little girl ran out the door, throwing herself into the arms of Roxas. "Hey… hey, it's alright."

Ana sobbed. "Monster! It was a big monster!"

"Shh, it's alright."

* * *

"That was Ana!"

"Mom!" Yuyake sighed. "I know you want to go total mamma-bear on them, but the world order is still a thing. We'll have to do something about it in this world."

Xion heard her son's words, but she couldn't help but glare at the large, furry, blue monster with purple spots. He seemed so proud of his handy work.

Lea put his hand on her shoulder. "If you need to go back to the ship go ahead. This is a pretty stressful situation for you."

"No. No. I'm fine. I can handle this." She took a deep breath, paying attention to the claws on her hands and not even looking at the scarers.

"2319 WE HAVE A 2319!"

A monster ran over to the wall slamming his fist onto a big red button " **RED ALERT! RED ALERT! RED ALERT!** " The windows over the shutters flew open as alarms blared and robotic voices blasted from the PA system. " **George Sanderson.** " The scoreboard on the wall changed into a camera feed of the back of an orange monster, who had a child's sock stuck to his back. " **Please remain motionless. Prepare for decontamination.** " The monster began freaking out, trying to pull the sock off of him.

With a crash, monsters in yellow hazmat-style suits came through the windows.

"What's the emergency? It's a sock." Blaze gaped as the hazmat guys removed the sock with large tongs and blew it up.

"Don't know." George, the orange monster, found himself in a shower. Shaved. And the skin on his back ripped off where the sock had been. "But they take it very seriously."

"Ms. Flint said they think kids are toxic. So, that's probably why." Yuyake watched as the hazmat guys took off leaving the employees to pick up the mess left behind.

Flint came running over, eyes wide with horror. "I am SO sorry you had to see that! This job is tough and can be dangerous. What you saw today doesn't happen very often, but I guess it's good that you saw what some of the risks could be."

"Is that guy gonna be alright?"

"Mr. Sanderson? Yes. He'll be fine." Flint wrung her slimy hands together. "Look, due to circumstances, I'm going to have to cut this tour short. However, because of that, you can all come back tomorrow and we will actually have our top scaerer, James Sullivan giving a demonstration of good scarer techniques tomorrow that you can attend. Sound good?"

"Sounds great."

"Thank you. I'll be waiting for you in the entrance hall."

She strode away, not noticing the sinister grin working its way across Xion's face. "Good, I can give that Sullivan guy a piece of my mind then."

"Slow down, turbo. Can't disrupt the world order."

"Ugh… fine!"

* * *

Renting two hotel rooms for the night, the rest of the day, they spent indoors. Blaze had the unfortunate luck to be stuck in a room with a very angry, very vocal, Xion. The girl was thankful for her headphones and music player.

But still, the girl was happy when Brim and Yuyake came in to tell her they'd ordered pizza.

Now everyone would share her pain.

But Xion, finally done venting, sat silently eating her pizza and watching some show on the television.

As the sky grew dark, they just sat inside, watching television together. Things felt… well, peaceful.

Until…

" _We interrupt this program to bring you a breaking news bulletin._ " The words Kid-Tastrophe flashed across the screen. A newscaster appeared onscreen. " _If witnesses are to be believed, there has been a child security breach for the first time in monster history._ "

Lea nearly coughed up his drink. "Oh. That is not good."

One of the hazmat guys appeared onscreen. " _We can neither confirm nor deny the presence of a human child here tonight._ "

The faces of monsters who witnessed the event began flashing across the screen. " _Well a kid flew right over me and blasted a car with its laser vision!_ "

" _I tried to run from it, but it picked me up with its mind powers and shook me like a doll!_ "

" _It's true! I saw the whole thing._ "

Xion picked up the remote, shutting off the television. "Well, we have to do something now. If they find that kid, who knows what they'll do it them."

"Obviously, they have no idea what a normal human kid is capable of doing. They're probably so freaked out that they're just making up stuff."

"Well, duh they're making up stuff!"

Lea rubbed feathers on the top of his monster head. "I say we get some sleep and head back to the scare factory tomorrow."

"And leave the kid out alone all night!?"

"Mom." Yuyake laid his hand on hers. "If the dude in suits can't find the kid, I doubt we can. The kid probably will try to get home, which means the scare factory. We should get a few hours of sleep and then head that way. We can get there before dawn and try and find the kid."

Xion took a deep breath. "Yes. The kid is probably hiding and will try to get back the way they came in." She stood up. "Three hours of sleep and then we go."

"Got it."

* * *

Hours later.

"Dad! You've returned!"

"And I come bearing gifts." He held up portable cup holders full of steaming cups of coffee. "Pretty sure monster coffee is not the same as our coffee, but still."

Blaze held out her hands. "Gimme the good stuff!" Taking a cup and guzzling down half of it in one sip, she sighed. "Yeeeeees! This is some good stuff!"

As the sun rose over the city, each of them downed the amazing goodness that is coffee. All night they sat, looking for the child. But no kid came. Every so often, Lea would go find somewhere with a television to check and see if the child had been captured.

The child was still at large.

Monsters began once again to pour into Monsters Incorperated. As did the hazmat guys, or as they now understood them to be, the CDA.

"I guess we go inside."

"Fine…" Xion groaned. She hated this place.

They went inside and saw more CDA members than actual company employees.

Ms. Flint stood near the door, looking around nervously. Her smile, much more forced than the day before, spread as she saw the group. "Hello again. I am so sorry that this is what you see. Apparently, the child that escaped last night came from this factory. Rest assured that we will contain this situation. Now, let's continue the tour."

Xion barely paid attention to most of the tour. She continued looking around the building for anything she could use to bring this place down. Any back room. Any power station.

Of course Flint couldn't show them anything useful. Just the tourist stuff.

Xion stopped.

A little monster. As they passed a hallway, Xion saw a child monster scampering away from them.

"Hey." Breaking away from the group, she followed the little monster. "Hold on, little one."

The little monster stopped, turning on her. "Boo!" The purple monster with two eyes on stalks jumped. Ok. Her trying to be scary was cute.

"Hi, little one." Xion knelt down. "I'm Xion. What's your name?"

"Boo!"

"Boo?" The woman picked up the little monster. "What are you doing all alone."

The child squirmed slightly. "Kitty?"

"Kitty?"

The child monster bounced slightly. "Kitty…"

Wait, why didn't her mouth move when she spoke? The monster bounced slightly and Xion saw… something inside the mouth.

Slowly grabbing the top jaw, Xion felt it… soft, like fabric.

She lifted it up. A little cream-colored face with black pigtails appeared.

"Boo!"

The human!?

"Xion?"

Xion pulled down the girl's monster head as she turned around. Flint and the others stood behind her. "Oh, sorry. I found this little one wandering alone."

"Oh?" Ms. Flint gasped slightly. "She must have wandered from the childcare personel. Bring her along and we'll probably run into them again."

"Sounds good."

As the tour continued on, Xion held Boo close.

She held the wanted human in her arms.

What would she do now?

* * *

What would she do now?

Maxine looked at her hands, clenching them to stop them from shaking.

She had to tell Yuyake.

She couldn't do anything else…

* * *

 **Welp!**

 **What a way to come back to this!**

 **Oh and there will be no more devos from now on.**

 **Please review!**

* * *

Footnotes: 

(1) These two designs are done by True-In Tha-Blue from the SoKai discord group I'm in. And also, Xion's design is similar to Sora's KH3 Monstropolis design.


	16. Chapter 15: Monstropolis- Laughter

**Well, here's the next chapter!  
I wasn't initially happy with this chapter, but I like how it ended. **

**Kingdom Hearts (c) Disney and Square Enix!**

 **OCs (c) to me!**

* * *

 **Chapter 15: Monstropolis- Laughter**

* * *

Lea and Xion looked down at the hidden human child. The child herself just giggled, happy and unaware of the danger she was in. She kept repeating the same phrase over and over.

"Mike Wazowski!"

Flint looked over at the child. "Michael? Ah, he's one of our employees. Perhaps she came with him."

The little girl turned her body, bouncing in Xion's arms. "Kitty!"

"Boo!" They turned to see Sullivan come barreling down the hall, followed by a round green monster with a single large eye! He scooped the little girl out of Xion's arms, hugging her. "Boo, oh you're all right! I was so worried! Don't you ever run away from me again, young lady! Oh, but I'm so glad you're safe."

Xion and Lea stared, slack-jawed as the monster, who they'd watched frighten human children the day before. Here he was, worried about human girl.

Flint blinked, cocking her head to the side. "Sullivan, I didn't know you were a father."

"Uh," the monster scratched the back of his head, shifting his eyes to the side, "actually, she's my cousin's sister's daughter."

Xion's eyes narrowed. "Really? You don't look anything alike."

Sully looked down at her, his eyes widening slightly. "Uh… Flint. Are you giving a tour?"

"That's right. This is Xion, her son Yuyake, Lea and his children Brim and Blaze. We were going to meet you at the demonstration later today."

"H-how about I give the rest of the tour? You should probably go work with some of the newcomers. Mikey and I can handle it." He grinned awkwardly, but Flint didn't seem to notice.

"Oh, I'm sure this will be an amazing experience for our guests! I hope you all understand what an amazing opportunity this is!"

"Oh yeah…" Yuyake nodded, smiling as kindly as possible.

"We're thrilled!"

Flint nodded and turned away, striding down the hall. As soon as she passed out of sight, Sully turned on them. "Look, I can explain…!"

"Please, explain why you have a human girl pretending to be a monster."

Mikey shushed them hurriedly. "Keep it down! Look, it was an accident and all we want is to get her home. Which I've got under control. We just have to get to the scare floor by noon. Which we don't have much time! So, let's go!"

"We'll be coming too, just to make sure that little girl gets home safely."

"Why do you care!?"

Xion loomed over Mikey, her eyes flashing with fury. "Let's just say I care about little kids, human or monster."

Sully let out a groan. "Are you a human advocate? Seriously, last time one of you was here, part of our system was sabotaged."

"We just want to get that kid home safe." Blaze crossed her arms.

"Can we go?" Brim groaned leaning against the wall when he suddenly slipped, falling into Mikey.

Mikey fell and rolled down the hallway and into a trash can. The little girl, Boo as Sully called her, suddenly laughed. The lights flickered and some burst.

"Will you stop making Boo laugh!?"

"I didn't! Just come on!" They ran down the halls, avoiding the area with the busted lights.

The two monsters went running down the hall, with the others following behind as fast as possible. Xion followed quickly, looking directly at Boo the entire time, making sure that the little girl never left her sight.

"I still don't understand," Sulley held her close, "you've got Boo's door?"

"I'll explain later. Run!" The green monster ran into the scare floor. In the middle of the scare floor, under a light. One door. One door stood in the open. A white door with flowers painted on it, clearly the door of a child. Mikey laughed as he saw the door. "There it is! Just like Randall said!"

"Randall?"

"Randall?" The lizard monster that scared Erin.

Boo suddenly whined, flailing in Sully's arms until she snuggled up against him, squealing in fear. Xion immediately ran over, putting herself between the door and the child.

Lea looked over at the kids. "Spread out." They all spread out, weapons in-hand.

Mikey stood by the door, arms crossed. "We're gonna get our lives back. The nightmare is over!"

"Shh," Sully however, ran his hand along Boo's back, "it's ok, Boo."

"What's the matter? Come on, it's time to move!" The one-eyed monster gestured to the door.

"The little girl is obviously afraid!"

Lea glanced around, looking into the shadows for anything. For a moment, he thought he saw yellow eyes, but the vanished moments later.

"Mike," Sully's eyes glanced around, searching for danger at every turn, "we can't trust Randall. He's after Boo."

"Who cares? Let's go! This is a limited time offer."

Xion's eyebrow twitched. "Who care!? How can you be so cruel!?"

"Oh, be quiet! You're not the one getting arrested if you get caught!" The green monster snapped.

The blue monster glared at his friend. "Mike, leave her alone. And I don't like this. So, no."

"Look, Sully you wanted her door and there it is. Now, let's move."

Blaze raised an eyebrow. "Uh, are you just ignoring the fact that this sounds like an obvious trap?"

"Mikey," Yuyake sighed, "look. It just seems too good to be true. Think about it."

Mike groaned, turning around. "You want me to prove everything's on the up-and-up?" His feet carried him toward the door. "Fine! He wants the door I get the door…"

"Mike, wait!"

"Hold on!"

"This is a trap!"

"Don't be an idiot!"

Mike threw open the door. He took a moment, glancing back at the group, his face a mask of annoyance before he walked into the room and began jumping on the bed.

Everything seemed fine.

Until a box scooped Mike up.

Everyone suddenly gasped before ducking behind something. Randall came out carrying a large box which now contained Mike. He pulled up a cart full of scream cannisters, which appeared to be fake when Randall opened up the tops of all of them to put the box inside. He rolled the cart away just as the lunch bell rang.

Monsters began pouring into the room, passing by Randall without having any idea the captive he held.

"What do we do?"

Sully immediately stood up, chasing after Randall, ignoring anyone else around him.

"Follow him!" Lea stood up, chasing after the blue monster. The kids and Xion followed him.

Their feet pounded down the halls after Sully. As they rounded a corner into a quiet area of the factory, the group spotted a lone figure in the hallway a monster with a wolf-like face and piercing green eyes. The figure's fur was a dark brown with tan flecks. He wore navy and black clothes covered in belts with knives.

"Chasing after monsters and little children?"

"Who are you?"

The wolf boy pulled out one of his knives and slashed the air. The blades seemed to tear through space, the wolf face vanished, the magic keeping him hidden on this world vanished in a moment revealing a teenage boy with cinnamon-colored skin and dark brown hair.

"Don't tell me, you've forgotten." The boy laughed. "Malachi. Though, I've changed quite a bit since last year." The illusion of his real face faded to the wolf appearance. "Now, why not leave Sullivan to his own fate. You have no reason to be here. Or are you just forgetting Pith?"

Xion bristled at the accusation. "You listen here! I care deeply about my nephew and I won't let you accuse me of forgetting him!"

"You only care about your own children." Malachi scoffed. "If that's the case, just go home." He vanished into a corridor of darkness.

Yuyake raised an eyebrow, his fingers twitching, ready for any attack to appear out of nowhere. "Mom?"

"We have to help. We are in this situation. It is irresponsible to do nothing now!" Lea spoke rather than Xion. "We can go check on your kids after. This is what matters right now." He smiled, his hand resting softly on Xion's shoulder.

The woman smiled. "Yeah." But as they continue to find Sully, she couldn't help but run through Malachi's comment.

Had she forgotten Pith?

The mother of eleven children, and she forgot the child she was supposed to be helping. Now, she'd wasted their time. Sully looked like he had things under control here. Did he need their help?

There was no Heartless.

"Maybe, we should let Sully and Mike handle this."

Everyone stopped and looked back at her.

"Uh, did you hit your head, Aunt Xion?" Brim cocked his head to the side slightly. He paused as she saw his aunt with tears in her eyes. "You were just… just telling Malachi off."

Xion wrapped her arms around herself, shaking slightly. "I-I made a mistake. I was the one who asked us to stay here." Her eyes looked up, staring into the eyes of her son. "I-I forgot about Pith."

"Mom?"

"I forgot about him. I heard the screams of two of my kids and I just forgot. And travelling the worlds… it felt normal. There's no universe-threatening thing like Xehanort this time. I-I just…"

Lea stepped forward, placing both hands on her shoulders. "Xion! Focus!" He knelt down slightly, his mind flashing back to a moment when he'd found her, confused and afraid, inside Castle Oblivion. At that time, she didn't listen to him.

Hopefully this time, she would.

"We've made a commitment to this world for now." The man smiled warmly. "I'll admit, it's hard to not see this as a calmer situation with someone like Xehanort not involved. Hey, if I'd really felt like we were wasting time here, I wouldn't have let us stay. After this, we'll ask the others if we can regroup and then we'll take you home. You can see your kids, and we won't be wasting our time."

Xion let out a sigh. "A-alright. We'll finish what we started."

The group of them hurried down the hall, only to pause as Sully, with Mike ran past them with Boo.

"Whoa!" Blaze turned around. "Wh-what's happening?"

"Randall's gonna kill us!"

Sully glanced back as they ran. "Randall has a machine to forcefully suck screams away from children."

"What!?"

Xion's eyes narrowed as her mind reached out for her children back home. Imagining them being tortured for screams. It made her furious.

Now.

She was glad she'd stayed.

"We gotta get out of here now!" Mike ran for an exit door. "We can start a whole new life somewhere far away! Goodbye Monster's Inc! Goodbye Mr. Waternoose!"

Sully skidded to a stop. "Wait!" He turned around and ran back.

"What are you doing?"

"Follow me! I have an idea!"

They ran back through the factory, into a different room. A room where Flint sat with some other monsters, one of which was gray with spider legs. Another stood in what appeared to be a model of a child's bedroom.

A bedroom simulation.

"Mr. Waternoose!" Sully yelled as they burst in the room

The spider monster turned, a smile decorating his face. "Ah, James! Perfect timing. And who are these guests?"

"Guests that came to see our company." Flint smiled.

Waternoose grinned. "Now, James, you can show all these monsters how it's done.

"What!?" The blue monster handed Boo to Mike. "No I can't! Sir, you have to listen to me!"

"Pay attention everyone. You're about to see the best in the business. Reset the simulator." The spider didn't seem to hear his employee.

"Mom…?"

Xion took a deep breath. "If Sully does this, then we can talk to his boss."

The fake child settled into bed as Sully walked beside the bed, but with all eyes on him, Boo squirmed out of Mike's arms and scrambled toward Sully. Only Mike and Yuyake saw her.

"Boo." Yuyake hurried after the little girl.

"Mr. Waternoose, there's no time for this!"

"Come on! What are you waiting for? Roar!"

"But sir!"

"Roar!"

Letting out a long sigh, the blue monster turned on the fake child and roared.

And what a roar.

The roar shook the room, sending fear down the spines of everyone present.

But Boo. Poor Boo.

Yuyake grabbed her arm as she reached Sully's side, just as he let out the roar.

Yuyake felt his own body stiffen and bristle at the frightening roar, but the little girl began to scream and cry.

"Well done! Well done, James." The monsters watching clapped.

But Sully. He looked down at the little girl. The girl who'd now run off, crying with Yuyake trying to catch her again.

Xion looked at the frightened child and her heart broke.

But, she couldn't do anything, as Flint, just as she tried to usher the other monsters outside, screamed.

"What is that!?"

Lea turned. "Kids! Come on!"

Rushing into the hallway, they saw a Heartless, and beside it stood Malachi. "I told you to leave this be."

He vanished into the darkness, leaving the creature behind.

A heartless that resembled a large snake. The creature seemed to go on forever, its body winding down halls, where more screams could be heard. The scales, dark in color, seemed to move with what appeared to be storm clouds. The scales around its head flickered with gold as its head fanned out like that of a cobra, with the Heartless insignia on both sides. Glancing over its prey, the Apophis(1) Heartless hissed, the air around it crackling with dark lightning.

Yuyake closed the door to the simulation room with Sully, Mike, Boo, and Waternoose inside and locked it with his Keyblade. "Get out of here!" He yelled to Flint and the others, who immediately ran.

"Blaze!"

The girl grinned! Her monster form glowed as each phoenix feather lit up with flames. "Burn freak!" Flames licked the hallway, running toward the snake, ready to swallow it whole.

The Heartless hissed, dark clouds formed above its head, launching a torrent of water into the flames. Steam flooded the hall, making visibility nonexistent.

Its tongue flicking in and out, the golden eyes of the creature scoured the misty hall. It saw another torrent of flames glowing in the distance.

With a flick of its head, the mist parted to reveal Blaze, hands glowing. "Made ya look."

From below, Xion and Lea leapt upwards, slashing at the Heartless' throat with their Keyblades. The Apophis gurgled as its throat took the full force of the blow.

Before it could recover, Brim threw his hatchets, hitting it on both sides of its face before he ran in close, flames appearing on his legs as he kicked at the Heartless' already damaged throat. His foot made contact. Flames exploded on the monster's throat.

Yuyake, taking advantage of Brim's distraction, jumped up to the Apophis' head. Both Keyblades in hand, he shoved them into the Heartless' open mouth, preventing it from closing.

"Blaze!"

The girl, coated in flames, rushed forward as the snake tried to shake the Keyblades from its mouth. Blaze grabbed onto the lower gum of the monster, pulling all her flames into one concentrated mass in her left hand. "Bon appetite!" She thrust her hand into the creature's mouth and unleashed a flurry of flames.

Fire spurted out of the back of the snake's head as it gave one last hiss and dissipated into the darkness.

"Well, that's taken care of." Brim dusted off his hands with a grin.

Yuyake nodded. "Let's get back to Boo. She looked really scared."

"Yeah." Xion walked over to the door and unlocked it, but as her hand touched the handle, she paused, listening.

"I thought you would get rid of them!"

Randall?

"I distracted them. You have the kid, what more do you want?"

Malachi? He was working with Randall? And kid? Boo?

"Just get the child to the Scream Extractor."

Waternoose!?

Xion burst in the door. Randall held Boo, his slimy hands over the little girl's mouth.

Malachi stood beside a black door that stood partially open. And behind him stood Waternoose.

"Let Boo go!"

"Not on your life!"

Waternoose sighed. "I hoped Malachi was wrong when he said you were terrorists out to destroy our company… but it looks like he was right."

"What!?"

"Don't worry," Malachi smirked, bearing his wolf teeth, "I'll deal with them now." Holding out his hand, Malachi summoned a whip.

The group all moved to dodge, but the whip began to glow white. Ice spurted up from the ground, trapping everyone's feet. Before even Blaze could melt it, the whip wrapped around them all. With a single pull, Malachi jerked them out of the ice and threw them out the door.

When the whip released, they all rolled across the hard, damp ground.

The first thing they noticed… was that they were human once again.

Yuyake looked up to see an old building with a raised square in the middle. Ropes surrounded the square, and pieces of a broken cage lay everywhere. On one wall, he saw paintings of what appeared to be a purple dragon. "Is this a boxing ring?"

"An illegal one, yes. Built in an old factory." Malachi stood in the ring, his hands holding his old hammer now. "Welcome to my world. Welcome to New York City(2)."

Xion jumped to her feet, her Keyblade flashing into her hand. "Why!? Why bring us here."

"You didn't listen, so I removed you. Maybe I can pound some sense into your heads here." Malachi laughed, glancing around. "Unless you're abandoning Pith to his fate."

"Never!"

Xion leapt forward. Seeker of the Stars(3) clashing against his hammer.

"You think you can take me?"

"You have incredible strength and a hammer. My son told me about you. I can easily take a punk like you on."

"I've changed a bit since then!" He leapt back, his hammer vanishing in a cloud of red magic. "My tactics and weapons for starters. Kongō!" He charged forward, the red magic culminating in his hands as suddenly a trident, crackling with lightning appeared.

Yuyake, appearing at his mother's side, knocked the trident up with one Keyblade and slashed with the other.

Letting go the trident, it vanished as Malachi held up his hands, "Shield of El Cid!", just in time to summon a shield bearing the image of a golden dragon.

"What!?"

"Braig's benefactor is kind. Kind enough to grant me new abilities."

"Then we'll just see how good you are with them!" Blaze and Brim ran towards him from either side, their bodies ablaze with fire.

Pushing back from the mother and son, "Babr-e Bayan!" His shield vanished to become a full suit of armor. As soon as their flames touched it, they vanished.

"What!?"

The armor vanished as an axe appeared in the boy's hands, "Forseti's Axe!" sending a torrent of water at the siblings.

Lea narrowed his eyes. "So that's it. Xion!" He ran over, dropping his voice to a whisper. "He can only use one thing at a time. We'll have to fight him fast before he can switch."

"Gotcha!" Xion leapt back, holding up her Keyblade. "HASTE!" Yellow magic surrounded everyone on their side.

"Go!"

The boy grit his teeth as they all charged, his eyes barely able to follow their movements. "Juuchi Yosamu!(4)" A katana appeared in his hands. He swung wildly, hoping to catch the fast-moving warriors as they all rushed to land any sort of blow on his body.

"This ends now!" Xion cast Haste once more on herself before running forward, water coating her Keyblade in a rush of energy. "LIQUID STEEL(5)!"

Her Keyblade slammed into Malachi's katana, shattering the blade as her sword, water and all slammed into the boy's chest.

Malachi flew backwards, slamming into the purple dragon painted on the wall, cracking it. He coughed, moving his hand slightly. Just enough to summon a dark corridor and vanish.

"We need to move!" Lea ran toward the black closet door they'd flown out of.

He pulled the door open, and it opened up to the simulation room. Malachi must've been planning to use it to get back.

"Where could they have gone!?"

"Someone has to have seen them!" Xion's feet pounded the floor as she ran down the halls. Her legs carried her toward the scare floor.

Monsters all stood around, staring up at the conveyor belt that took the doors away.

Brim turned to one of the monsters. "What happened!?"

"Mike, Sully, and Randall just rode some doors into the door vault."

Yuyake ran to a table and grabbed two keycards for doors. "Then we'll do the same!" He ran over, swiping the cards.

"Hey! You can't do that!"

"Watch us!" Blaze's feathers glowed as she erected a wall of fire between them and the other monsters.

The doors Yuyake called came down. They all grabbed on as the doors went back up to the conveyor belt, rocking as the belt carried them into another room.

A room full of thousands upon thousands of doors.

"Heartless!"

Flutterings filled the room. The cloud of black Heartless only broken by the view Vermilion Samba, Marine Rumba, Gold Beat, and Malachite Bolero Heartless.

"I've got them!" Yuyake flipped onto the track above the doors, gliding along it. "Magic Horizon(6)!" Throwing his Keyblades into the air, they morphed into blades of light which began to float in a ring around the boy's body. As he slid along the rail, the blades sliced any Heartless that came near him. "Now!" The circle of blades moved, floating before Yuyake's outstretched hands as they morphed into pillars of light which shot out in every direction, hammering the Heartless into nothingness.

"Over there!"

Blaze pointed to a lone door. Sully dangled from it with Randall standing in the doorway.

Xion opened her mouth to give an order, but before she could, Boo appeared on Randall's shoulder, pulling the monster's antenna. The two disappeared into the darkness of the room as Sully pulled himself up.

"Let's get down!" Lea pointed to a platform where Mike stood, watching.

All of them jumped off, landing on the platform as Sully, Boo in one arm, and the other closed around Randall's neck, jumped down to them.

"You got him!"

Sully laughed. "Yeah. Well, Boo got him. And… I'm glad you guys are alright. Now, let's get rid of this lizard."

"And I know just how!" Mike ran over to a wall, grabbing a rugged wooden door. "Little help here!" Brim ran over, and the two of them set the door up against the railing. "Boo, would you do the honors?"

The little girl began to giggle and the door powered up all on its own.

The green monster pushed open the door with a laugh. "All right, come on, over the plate. Let's see the ol' stuff here, pal!"

Sully held Randall by the neck and tail, swinging him back and forth.

"Here's the pitch!"

Sully, with a mighty throw, flung(7) the lizard monster out the door. "NOOOOOOO!"

"And he's outta here!"

Everyone laughed as Miku slammed the door. "Now, let's get rid of him forever!"

"Actually, I can lock him out." Xion walked over, Keyblade in hand. "Let me." Holding out her weapon, a Keyhole appeared in the center. As she locked the door it glowed and vanished.

"Wow…"

Sully smiled at the group. "Thanks for all your help. Now, we just need to get Boo home."

"We'll come with you."

The blue monster shook his head. "No, we'll handle this."

"What about Waternoose?"

Mike waved his hand. "If we put her back, what's the worst he can do? Fire us? And we know where his scream-sucking machine is, so we can deal with him. And you guys are just guests here. People might want to blame you. So, it's better if you get out of here."

"Alright." Xion smiled. "And I want to apologize. I was angry at you for scaring kids, but you're not so bad, and Boo likes you."

Sully smiled and shook her hand. "Thanks Xion. You've been a big help. And don't worry, I'll take care of Boo." His eyes softened as they looked at the little girl who smiled at him. "Boo, say bye to our friends."

"Bye-bye!" The toddler waved.

As the group walked away to get to a secluded place to disembark, Xion stopped, looking back at Sully. "Hey, you know how Boo was able to turn on the door with her giggles? We have a ship that runs off happiness and laughter… maybe that would work better."

"Yeah… maybe it would."

With that, Xion turned away. As she stepped beside her son, Yuyake they smiled at one another.

* * *

Angel watched as Pith slept. He'd changed the bandages on his legs before falling asleep.

"Angel." Xext grinned as he walked into the cell. "Time to go, sister."

"No! Please! I want to stay! I want to go!"

"Come willingly or I'll break Pith's legs."

Angel's eyes widened, as she glanced down at her friend. "A-alright… I'll come."

Xext laid his hand on his sister's should and led her out of the room. He chuckled slightly as he leaned forward and whispered. "You will be the one to break Pith's sister."

* * *

 **I decided to let Sully and Mike deal with Waternoose alone because I think it works better if they leave earlier.**

 **Please review.**

* * *

Footnotes: 

(1) Apophis was the Egyptian god of earthquakes, thunder, darkness, storms, and death. It was associated with chaos as well.

(2) This plus the painting on the wall might give you an idea of where Malachi is from.

(3) This Keyblade, the precursor to what would be Star Seeker, was given to her by Sora's ancestor, Kokoro Gatsu.

(4) All of these weapons are found in mythology. Kongō is a trident from Japanese myth. The shield of El Cid is from Spanish myth. Babr-e Bayan is a suit of armor or a coat from Persian myth. Forseti's axe is from Norse myth. Juuchi Yosamu is a sword from Japanese myth.

(5) Liquid Steel is a water based spellblade move from Final Fantasy X-2.

(6) This is a combination of Xion's limit break: Event Horizon, and Roxas' limit break: Magic Hour.

(7) I blame the internet… but I wanted to say that Sully yeeted him through the door.

* * *

 _VAs:_

 _Malachi Bridge- Khary Payton (Aqualad, Wasabi, Grimlock, Cyborg, Rafiki, Ten)_


	17. Chapter 16: Stormy Skies

**Ok, this chapter is kinda short, because crap is gonna hit the fan next chapters.**

 **Kingdom Hearts (c) to Disney and Square Enix!**

 **Sasuke (c) to Yamichaos27!**

 **Luna (c) to Nintendoman01!**

* * *

 **Chapter 16: Stormy Skies**

* * *

"Are you giving Even and the others trouble, Uncle?" Kairi, followed by her family, walked into the library.

Even sighed. "Indeed he is. He won't take his medicine."

"I don't wish to take it."

"You sound like a kid, Uncle Ansem." Sora laughed.

"Well maybe I want to be a child. Being frail, ill, and bound to this chair are no fun. Sometimes I wish I had worked on that youth elixer long ago. Then maybe I wouldn't be in this position."

Sora and Kairi laughed, but Patria looked on, her face a blatant mask of annoyance.

How could they act so calm? How could they laugh? Pith was still missing, maybe dead.

"Tria," she glanced up at her father's voice, "you OK?"

"Not at all! How can you laugh and make jokes!? Pith could be dying right now! I know you're always smiling, 'Mr. Sunshine, but this is no time for that!"

Sora lair his hand on his daughter's head. "I know. But, I can't despair. I've done that before... Never again. I won't give up, and I'll keep smiling. Because I know he's alive."

Patria sometimes forgot how annoyingly optimistic her dad was.

"Sup guys!"

Lea and his team walked into the room followed by Terra`s.

"Hey!"

Ansem smiled. "It is good to see you all safe. We have been worried."

"Mommy!" Ignore came running in, attaching himself to his mother's leg.

"Hey baby." She scooped him up with a smile.

Ignis laughed. "Mama! I gotta help with Lord Ansem!"

"Yes. He has been a great help."

"Father." A girl in a lab coat with silver-blue hair walked into the room.

Ienzo turned slightly. "Yes, Amelia?"

The girl, Amelia, hurried over, her boots clicking on the floor. "Lord Ansem, may I speak to you... and the other adults."

"Why just adults."

"Because I said so." The girl huffed. "I don't know if we need everyone here, just a few of you, so bye."

"Whatever then..." Patria stomped off. The other kids followed behind, Glacies grabbing little Ignis on her way out. "So, none of us found any hints on my brother..." She let out a long groan. "I'm worried."

Ryo held up a fruit from his pouch. "Well, we did find something that might help in someway. We got this from Rafiki. It's a miracle fruit. He says it can save Angel from the magic spell she's un-."

"Angel!?" Patria reached for the fruit, only for the boy to pull it away. "Why would you get anything to help her!? She's our enemy!"

Blaze raised an eyebrow. "Uh, you do remember that she's a captive and helped us last time before you abandoned her. If we can free her, she could take us to Pith."

"Pith should be our first priority. Not Xehanort's daughter."

"Oh just shut up!" Brim grunted. "You don't care about anyone but yourself. All this talk about Pith is because you cling to him as the only person who won't totally judge you on being crazy."

PJ held up his hand, glancing between the boy and Patria. "Why don't we all just calm down and talk this out quietly..."

Neither one seemed to hear him.

"Shut it you perv!"

"Face it, you're a total psychopath!"

"Say that again, I dare you!"

* * *

Ansem grunted as his joints began to ache. "Ameila, what is it?"

"I analyzed that tracker that Master Yen Sid gave everyone. I was able to track two enemies to two different worlds." Her eyes turned to the king. "It's two of the worlds on that list."

"What list?"

"Well..."

"Shut up!"

"You gonna make me!?"

"You wanna go!? Let's go!"

Kairi glanced at the door. "That's Patria and Brim."

Sora turned, dashing into the other room, just in time to see Patria and Brim summon their weapons and leap at one another. The man summoned his Keyblade and grabbed Dawn's Might from its sheath. He managed to jump forward, blocking the two before they slashed one another. "Have you two lost it!? You're friends! Comrades!"

"Then tell him to keep his mouth shut!"

"No! Your daughter is a freakin' psycho! She doesn't care about anything other than herself! We have a way to save an innocent person and she doesn't give a rip!"

"I'm not a psycho!"

Sora knocked their weapons away. "Cut it out! We're all on edge right now, but we can't start fighting each other. And Brim, my daughter is not a psycho. You shouldn't say things like that."

"Then she should stop acting like one! Come on Tria! What do you want to do? Are you going to help save an innocent person, like a normal sane person would do, or are you going to stand by and let them die to save your own interests?"

The red-head glared at him, her body shaking.

What did he know about her?

He didn't know what she was going through.

The dark voice in her mind whispered, " _He is mocking you..._ "

"I'll freakin' kill you!" Patria lunged, only for her dad to drop his weapons and catch her.

Brim, unafraid, crossed his arms. "My point stands. Psycho."

"You know what, screw you!" The girl stormed off.

"Patria, wait!"

The red-head ran out of the room and out of the castle. Turning down into the crystal caves, she soon found herself in a small alcove. Bioluminecent moss shone around, casting a mystical light, only heightened by the crystal's reflections of said light. A small waterfall trickled down into a pond. Little creatures, that looked like stuffed blue animals wandered around the pond. They looked up, cocking their head at the strange human who came rushing in, emotionally distressed.

Patria slumped against a crystal, closing her eyes as emotion threatened to well up inside of her. She felt a tiny appendage touch her. Opening her eyes, she saw one of the little creatures staring up at her. "Go away!"

"Aw, don't be mean to the little guy, he's just a PuPu(1)."

The girl looked up to see Leon and Rinoa's son, Ivan standing by a large crystal. "Why are you here?"

"This is my training ground. Dad showed it to me." He plopped down in front of her with a soft smile. "So, what's up with you? I mean, you look like you want to scream, cry, and kill something all at one."

"Oh, just buzz off."

The boy smirked. "Oh come on. Holding all that crap in is only going to make life worse for you. Look, I swear on my sword, I'll even swear on yours that I won't tell a soul. Come on..."

"You're annoying." The girl groaned. But a moment later... "Fine. Brim called me a psychopath and I couldn't... I had no way to disprove him."

"Brim, that was uncalled for!" Lea towered over his son. "Patria is angry yes, but her brother is missing, and she is probably more stressed than most of us. I'm sure she'll be more cooperative and kind when the stress is relieved."

"Doubt it."

* * *

Lea's eye twitched slightly. "Brimstone Roxas Fahrenheit, you will apologize for what you said!"

"Whatever..."

Sora and Kairi stared at the door where their daughter fled. "Kairi, you figure out this whole, thing with your uncle I'll find Tria." He hurried outside, searching for his little girl.

Kairi, rubbing her temples, went back to her uncle. Certainly, she was saddened and angry by her daughter's disregard for innocent Angel, but of course, their entire family was under so much stress at the moment, that she couldn't blame the girl for thinking of her own interests, and those interests weren't even about her for once... they were for Pith.

"Uncle..."

"Patria I assume."

"Yes." The princess let out a long sigh. "The others will be back here soon. But I think Lea is still lecturing his son."

A few minutes later, the others came in, with Lea looking more than a little embarrassed as he approached Kairi. "Sorry about my son."

"It's ok, Lea. We're all stressed out, and we might all say things we don't truly mean." The woman turned back to Ienzo's daughter. "Amelia, please go on."

Amelia, having sat down with her notes looked a little on the annoyed side. "For those who don't know, which is sadly most of you, Mother and I were down in the mines when we stumbled upon an old laboratory. In it, we found this list along with other things."

"The list," another female voice spoke, "held a list of laboratories and experiments created by Gorou, father of Ansem the Wise." Ienzo's wife, Lara(2), walked over to Amelia. "He was a mad scientist, but he didn't get his hands dirty. He funded others who had insane ideas and psychotic notions. Two of the people you are looking for are in two of those worlds."

Terra scratched his chin. "So, we need to check those worlds."

"Yes," Ienzo nodded, "and we have been doing some digging on the potential motives of Braig and his followers by analyzing what we could through the trackers. But, we will need you to check these worlds to double-check our data."

Amelia tapped her pen against her clipboard. "This also might help us get one step closer to finding Pith. If we can analyze their motives, we could predict their movements potentially."

"Then let's do it!"

* * *

Sora walked around town, searching for any sign of his daughter. Of course she'd taken off without a trace.

"Looking for crazy-head?"

He turned to see Briana leaning against a wall.

"You!"

The princess smirked. "Yes me. And I've come with a little riddle. One is covered in red and smells of death, and the other soon nears the door to Hell."

"What kind of riddle is that!?"

"Figure it out." The girl warped away, leaving a very confused Sora behind.

"What... does she mean?"

* * *

 **The next chapter will get a bit crazy, so I'm super hyped!**

 **Please review!**

* * *

Footnotes

(1) PuPu is a Final Fantasy creature seen in 8 that takes things from the map.

(2) If you read my rewrite of my KH3 fic then you know that this woman is the one and only Lara Croft. Don't ask how this ship came to be, I don't know myself, and I wrote it.

* * *

 _VAs:_

 _Amelia Corrigan- Whitney Rodgers (Aguri Yukimura, Margaret, Amelia Evans, Jiro, Lotta Hart, Yozora Mikazuki, Sora)_


	18. Chapter 17: Climax

**I've been looking forward to this chapter for months.**

 **And I'm so glad I had a week off to work on it.**

 **I hope you guys like it!**

 **Kingdom Hearts (c) to Disney and Square Enix!**

 **Sasuke (c) to Yamichaos27!**

 **Other OCs to me!**

* * *

 **Chapter 17: Climax**

* * *

"You're annoyingly easy to talk to."

Ivan laughed. "I'll take that as a 'you're welcome'."

"You can take that however you want." Patria huffed, though she still smiled.

Ivan stood up, offering her hand. "Wanna head back?"

"Sure."

The boy helped her stand before squeezing her hand slightly. "You know, I don't think you're psycho, no matter what Brim says."

"Well, thanks."

The two walked, after letting go of each other's hands, out of the caverns. The sun hung low in the sky as the light motes fell over Radiant Garden. "This town sure is beautiful. Isn't it, Tria?"

"Yeah..."

"Welll," a female voice drawled, "look at this! Has the little demon found herself a boyfriend?" The two turned around, only for a crossbow bolt to hit Ivan in the shoulder; another followed, hitting Patria in the left shin.

"BRIANA!"

Said princess sat up on a ledge, twirling her crossbow on one finger. "Yes, yes. It's me. You hate me, I know. I kidnapped your brother... blah, blah, blah." Her face split into a grin. "Speaking of your brother... I have some information for you. That is... if you can catch me."

Standing up, Briana turned, leaping across the rooftops with a laugh.

Wrenching the arrow from her leg, the girl snarled. A cure spell fell over her as Ivan touched her shoulder. "Sounds like a trap to me."

"I could care less."

The boy sighed. "If that's how it's going to be, then I'm going with you."

"Fine by me."

* * *

"My lord! Heartless are attacking the square!" Tron alerted.

Kairi leapt to her feet. "Come on, let's go!"

All the parents, and the kids tore from the castle, and down to the square. Kairi saw her husband batting away an Angel Star Heartless.

Angel Stars, Red Roses, Parasol Beauties, and Dark Wisps(1) moved about the square and up the streets, searching for victims.

Aqua immediately took charge. "Blaze, contain the Heartless and hold the perimeter! Justin, Xally, take out the ones on the outskirts! The rest of you, stop them here!"

"ON IT!"

Blaze slammed her hand onto the ground. A wall of fire burst from the ground, trapping the Heartless inside the square as the others brought their weapons down upon the dark creatures.

"Sora!" Kairi slashed a heartless to pieces, "did you find Patria?"

"No, and we have another problem, and I'm assuming these Heartless are connected." The man jumped away at the Angel Star unleashed a strong wind spell. "Get rid of them first, then we'll talk."

"Alright."

* * *

Pith paced around his cell. He'd woken up to no Angel and that... it scared him. What would they do to her? What would they make her do?

"Worried about your cellmate?"

The boy glanced at the bars, eyes narrowing at the sight of Braig. "Buzz off."

"Oh, but I just got here." He laughed, warping inside. "Did you like my little game. I turned off the cell forcefield so you could try and escape. But boy did it backfire on you. Luckily you can still walk."

"Lucky me..."

The man held up a hand, an orb appearing. "Here, want to see your family?"

"My family?" Pith stared into the orb before he was able to see a moving image. An image of his parents in Radiant Garden, fighting Heartless. "Mom! Dad!"

"I don't think you should worry about them..."

* * *

It didn't take long to dispatch all the Heartless. With Blaze keeping them contained it was almost too easy. Sora dismissed his weapon, frantically glancing around. "Did you guys see Patria?"

"No." Kairi sighed. "You didn't find her?"

"No. But I did find Briana."

Everyone glanced in his direction. Xion however spoke first. "Briana can only mean bad news."

"And she said something... she called it a riddle. She said it was about Patria and Pith. 'One is covered in red and smells of death, and the other soon nears the door to Hell.'"

"Perhaps you're not as stupid as Father says. I mean, you actually remembered that." Briana shot overhead, landing on a lamppost, firing off crossbow bolts in every direction. The group scattered, backing away from the projectiles. "Looks like the Heartless did the trick. Everyone is here. Well... almost."

She warped away as someone slammed into the lamppost.

"There you are." The princess cooed from a rooftop.

Patria, clinging to the lamppost with one arm, snarled. "Get back here!"

Briana warped again as bullets flew toward her. "Oh, you came too." She glared at Ivan as the boy reloaded his gunblade. "Sorry, tough-guy, but this is a private party!" Sweeping her hand aside, a barrier appeared between Ivan and the rest of them. "Now... we can begin. See, I told the little red demon over there that I had some news on little Pith, and it would be rude just to tell her and not the rest of you." Her grin widened. "How 'bout it? Want the news?"

Sora and Kairi looked at one another as Patria jumped down by their sides.

No one spoke.

The air felt still.

No birds chirped.

No wind howled.

It was as if the entire world held its breath.

For this news alone.

Beside Briana, the air moved. Parting. For the girl in white who landed beside her.

"Angel..."

Ryǒ glanced at the Fahrenheit siblings as he pulled the miracle fruit from his pocket. His eyes met the glazed eyes of the controlled girl, who stood with her wings wrapped around herself, hiding the view of her entire body.

Briana sat down on the edge of the roof, letting out a long sigh, sounding annoyingly content. "See, little Pith has been sharing a cell with Angel over here. Let me tell you, ever since red abandoned her to be recaptured back in Hazy Hamlet, she's kinda lost it."

Patria's breath caught in her throat.

What... did she mean?

"I mean, sharing a cell with the person who left you for dead is hard." The princess snickered. "Hate to say it, but she... snapped. And boy was that one heck of a mess to clean up. And it's really too bad..." she fixed her eyes on the Kumo family with a wide smile, "as a dead hostage is of no use to us."

"Wh-what!?"

Angel's wings parted. The girl, stood there, her dress covered in red stains. In her hands, she held a white and green striped shirt.

Red.

Torn.

Pith's clothes.

Sora's heart seemed to stop. His body froze as his mind raced.

There was no way...

It couldn't be...

No.

No.

No...

Kairi choked out a scream as her knees collapsed, sending her to the ground. One hand clutched the fabric over her heart, while the other grabbed her hair so tight one might wonder if she was pulling it out or not.

Everyone else stood, riveted in place.

Their eyes glued to the bloody girl and clothes.

No...

No..

No.

"No..." Patria hissed. The first to speak.

She was not still.

Her entire body trembled.

"You... you..." The trembling stopped.

"I'LL KILL YOU!"

The girl shot off the ground, slamming into Angel. The girl in white took to the sky, pulling the red-head up with her. Patria tore her brother's clothing from Angel's hands before grabbing her collar. "YOU WILL PAY!"

In her other hand, Patria summoned her Keyblade. With a single thrust, she stabbed Angel's left wing, her Keyblade going through the feathers.

Angel screamed as the wing gave out, spiralling the two of them toward the ground. She managed to shove Patria off and wrap her undamaged wing around herself as she slammed into the pavement. Pushing herself up, the haze faded from her eyes. Cander pulled back his spell... but why?

She looked down.

Why... why was she in her bloody clothes? The ones she wore when she treated Pith's wounds.

"You're going to die for this!"

She turned, staring up at Patria. The red-head holding Pith's bloody clothes.

So that was the plan.

"N-no! Stop!" The girl in white cried as the Keybearer advanced on her. "I-I didn't do anything! They hurt him! I-I tried to save him! Please! H-he's-" She stopped as Patria began to drip dark wisps.

No... this was the plan.

And she was the bait.

Darkness pulsed off Patria, snapping everyone out of their shock.

"PATRIA!?"

"Patria stop!"

Terra ran toward the girl, but a flash of darkness threw him back.

Dark tendrils wound around Patria's arms and legs. Her tears turned pitch black as she imagined her brother's dead corpse. Slowly, a darkness began creeping up her arms and legs, staining them black. Her fingers changed to a deep red. Red as blood(2).

" _You belong to the darkness. You belong to me._ "

The voice spoke clearly in her mind. But... she ignored it.

It was right.

For now.

She didn't care.

Pith was dead.

And his murderer would pay.

Angel crept back until she sat against a wall, unable to run. "Stop!" Patria's Keyblade drove once more into her wing, pinning the girl to the wall. "WAIT! PITH IS ALIVE! HE'S ALIVE!"

"Why should I believe you...?" The red-head snarled, the darkness now spreading from her limbs to the sides of her face as her eyes changed. Fading from blue to a deep yellow.

" _All I want is freedom. A world with no more night..._ "

Angel sang.

She sang Pith's favorite song.

The gold faded from Patria's eyes. "How...?"

"He taught me the song. He's alright! I swear!"

" _NO!"_

Patria stumbled back as the voice rang in her head.

Her eyes turned pitch black.

" _I WILL NOT LOSE THIS CHANCE! YOU BELONG TO ME NOW!"_

Patria screamed as she felt the voice, the invader, reach into her mind. He wanted control.

The darkness around her thickened. The tendrils spreading out, spawning Shadows from each one, before the tide of darkness swept them up.

They swirled around the girl.

Trapping her in the center of a tornado of darkness. A dark red orb crackled into existence around her.

Trapping her.

Alone.

" _You are mine..._ "

* * *

Sora and Kairi watched their daughter snap.

They watched the darkness take hold.

They... were afraid.

Not of her.

For her.

Sora ran to her side, only to be thrown back each time by the darkness.

Kairi tried.

Glowing with light.

"PATRIA!" Kairi screamed as light enveloped her. She sprouted wings of light as her Aura form took over.

But even this did nothing.

The tornado of darkness shoved even this away with ease.

"No..." Sora clenched his fist. "I won't lose her. I refuse!"

Sheathing Dawn's Might, he grabbed his wife's hand. In her Aura form, her white eyes stared back blankly. He took her hand and closed her fingers around Key to the Kingdom. His hand closed over hers as the weapon shone brightly.

"Ethereal! Grant us strength!"

The couple glowed a deep yellow light, tinged with a rainbow of colors.

" _ **ARRECTIS LUX! VENI FORAS! DA NOBIS VIAM VINCERE TENEBRIS!**_ (3)"

A beam of light, blue, yellow, and pink, erupted from the Keyblade, tearing through the tornado.

Sora saw the red orb in the bottom center of the storm. Dropping his Keyblade, he ran through the opening! The darkness began to close in around him, the winds of darkness tearing at his skin and clothes.

As he reached the orb, he drew Dawn's Might and stabbed it.

"GIVE ME BACK MY DAUGHTER!"

His body glowed with light as cracks appeared in the surface of the orb.

* * *

Kairi's Aura form faded as Sora ran inside the tornado. She fell to her knees, staring after her beloved husband and daughter.

"Please..."

CRACK

The base of the tornado shook as light built up inside it. A beam of light, erupted like a geyser from the top of the tornado, scattering the Heartless and the darkness in all directions. The winds and Heartless fading away after mere moments.

Leaving what looked like red eggshell pieces scattered around the two figures in the middle.

Sora, his clothes in tatters, bleeding from many cuts, knelt on the ground, holding the shuddering figure of Patria.

The girl clutched at her father's shirt.

Her body trembled as tears spilled from her eyes.

"Daddy... Daddy..."

"Shh. I'm here, sweetheart. Daddy's here. Daddy's got you."

Kairi, barely getting to her feet, stumbled over, collapsing in front of them as she threw her arms around them both. She choked, trying to speak, but only cries sputtered from her lips.

Cries of relief.

Cries of fear.

Cries of pain.

The others watched in silence.

"Patria... I-I didn't know her darkness was that strong." Terra whispered.

"Look at her body..."

The girl's arms and legs were still black. And her fingers still the deep red.

The darkness left its permanent mark on her.

"What about...?" Blaze turned.

Angel and Briana were nowhere to be seen.

Xion wrung her hands, worriedly. "Angel said Pith was alive... but..."

"He is." Lea assured. "They wanted this." He pointed at Patria. "This was to get her worked up. Why, I don't know. But they wanted her to lose it. He's alive. I know it."

"Yeah..."

* * *

"AUGH!" Braig, eyes black, stumbled back.

Pith couldn't help but smile. "You tried... but she still won!"

" _For now!_ "

"My sister is stronger than you thought!"

" _As are your parents. I had hoped that seeing their daughter loose herself to the dark would frighten them. But their spirit is too strong for that._ "

Pith crossed his arm. "What are you going to do with me now? I assume this was the plan."

" _The plan is not over._ " The voice chucked darkly. " _We are far from finished. And your part has not yet begun._ "

Braig's eyes flickered back to normal. "Now, if you'll excuse me, we have an angel and princess to welcome home."

He warped from the cell, leaving Pith behind. The boy finally fell to his knees, body shaking. "Tria... Please be safe. Angel... please be alright."

* * *

"I have never seen this before in my life." Master Yen Sid's pupil, Maryushaka, stood over Patria. The girl lay in the lab, unconscious.

Soon after her father pulled her from the tornado, the girl fell into a deep slumber. But the darkness staining her skin remained.

Even looked up from the scanner he held. "It's not a biological affliction."

"And it's not really magical either." Mary sighed. "My assumption is that it's one of the heart that has spread to her body. The darkness that tried to completely take her over has manifested physically. It... must be incredibly strong to do this to her. I will be back. I need to ask Yen about this." She vanished in a cloud of black smoke. Even left as well, leaving only the three members of the Kumo family alone.

Kairi sat by her daughter, stroking the girl's hair. "I... I'm so sorry..."

"For what, Kai?"

"I just... broke down. I-I thought I'd lost both of my babies." She looked up at him, her eyes glittering with tears. "I couldn't do that again. If I lose these two... it will probably kill me. After Maleficent took our little Jun(4) from us... and after Xehanort nearly killed Patria and Pith... Sora. I can't take this anymore." She fell into his arms as her hugged her.

She hated feeling so weak and helpless.

She absolutely hated it.

But... when it came to her children, it was as if she was always helpless.

She couldn't save Jun.

She couldn't save Patria and Pith.

"I'm worthless as a mother."

"Stop that." Sora spoke sharply, but his words were kind. "You did all you could. You are the best mother our kids could ever hope to have. I know you feel helpless. I do too. But we can't give up, for their sakes. Pith still needs us... and Patria. She really needs us now." He kissed his wife's forhead before pulling her head to his chest. "I-I feel bad too. Patria was suffering and we couldn't do anything to help her. We both knew it, but we couldn't do a thing. But we can help her now."

"Yeah. You're right."

"Th-thank you." Both of them jumped at their daughter's voice.

The girl lay, looking over at them with tired eyes. "Patria!" They both pulled her into a hug. "We were so worried."

"I'm sorry... I let him get to me..."

Him?

Sora pulled back. "Who?"

Silence.

The girl looked into her father's eyes, and he saw fear. "I-I shouldn't have said that!"

"No." Kairi spoke up. "Tell us everything. We want to help. Tell us..."

"O-ok..."

* * *

Sora stood before all the others, including Yen Sid and Mary, who had arrived not long before. "Tria says... that the man who possessed Xehanort and Braig is behind this. Apparently, he's been putting external darkness inside her for years, until now she's practically a ticking time bomb, ready to explode at the slightest provocation. She says, the only way she prevents that is by letting some of the darkness out, by means of hitting people, or doing things that are wrong. Which... explains a lot. She found this out last year, when she went after Maleficent; at the time, Pith pulled her out of the darkness, and she made him swear to keep all of this a secret. When Xehanort almost killed her and her brother, Patria made a deal with this man to bring them both back, but she was to give herself up as a vessel and servant to him in exchange. She agreed, but tried to back out later on. Now, he's trying to break her, so she'll give in. Pith's kidnapping. Her nightmares. Today... all of it was to try and break Patria, so she'll give this creep what she agreed to."

Silence.

Mary finally spoke. "Yen... what should we do?"

"I do not know who this person is, nor what his larger intentions are. But we must keep Patria out of his grasp." The old wizard looked at Sora. "She must learn to use the darkness inside her in order to keep him at bay and to keep herself from 'exploding'. There is only one person who might be able to truly help her. Someone who uses the darkness, but is immune to it."

"Riku!" Sora smiled. "Good idea! I'll take her to him when she's feeling better. The rest of you, keep going. We'll catch up when this is all figured out."

Aqua nodded. "Alright. Patria takes priority right now. We will take our teams and go to the two worlds Ienzo told us about."

"Yeah."

"Good. Then let's go."

* * *

 **Patria's secret is out!**

 **Please review!**

* * *

Footnotes:

(1) Angel stars are from "The End of the World" in KH1. Red Roses are from KHUX. Parasol Beauties are from Kingdom of Corona and Arendelle in KH3. Dark Wisps are also from KHUX.

(2) Similar to what happened to Aqua in KH3, and is similar to a certain Heartless from UX.

(3) This is Latin for "Piercing light. Come forth. Grant us a path to conquer the dark."

(4) Maleficent forced a miscarriage of Sora and Kairi's first baby. Jun is a unisex name since they didn't know if the baby was a boy or a girl. Jun is also the name of the other SoKai fankid I have for my canon-universe fankids. So, if their first child had lived, the child would be Jun from my other universe.


	19. Chapter 18: Cry For Help

**So, this will be my last update on any story until probably December. Next month is NaNoWriMo, which is National Novel Writing Month… where I and many others around the globe will attempt to write a novel in one month. So, no fanfics for November unless I finish my novel.**

 **So, enjoy this little chapter.**

 **Kingdom Hearts © to Disney and Square Enix!**

 **Sasuke © to Yami!**

 **Ocs © to me!**

* * *

 **Chapter 18: Cry For Help**

* * *

At Tifa's bar, Sasuke Kazekiri sat, taking a sip of bourbon before rubbing his temples.(1)

"I thought I'd find you here." His wife Rydia slid onto the barstool beside him.

"Oh, hey, Rydia."

"I…" she began slowly, "heard about what happened to your goddaughter. Is she doing ok?"

The guard captain set down his glass, staring into the remainder of the liquid at the bottom. "Not exactly. It'll definitely take time for her to adjust."

"I see." The woman moved the glass away from her husband, waiting until he looked up at her. "How are you taking all this? Are you alright?"

He brought up his hand, resting his face in his palm with a long sigh. "Things have just gotten way out of hand. I was already worried about Patria's darkness before, as was everyone else, and then this happens! Pat goes berserk after those filthy assassins tricked her into believing Pith was dead! And some mad… person, thing, unknown tried to take her over."

The green-haired woman reached over, rubbing his back gently. "It really sounds like a rough experience for her.

"Understatement of the year! And if that wasn't enough, this thing has been pumping darkness into her for years, apparently trying to mold her into the perfect vessel or something! All this time, the darkness she had been exuding that had us all worried about her," he brought down his fist on his glass, shattering it, the blood from his fresh cuts now mixing with the remaining bourbon on the bartop, "has been coming from someone else, and none of us realized it!"

"Please! Calm down, Honey!"

"I should've known something was off! I thought I perfected my ability to sense light and darkness, and yet I didn't have a clue that her darkness wasn't entirely her own!" Sasuke placed his bleeding hand against his forehead. "I bet if Master Kaname was here, he would've sensed something off…"

Rydia took her husband's hand, gently picking out some of the glass fragments. "Don't be so sure. From what I understand, even great sorcerers were caught off guard by this. I don't think anyone could've seen this coming. It's not your fault. It's no one's fault but this mysterious figure."

"Not to mention those Sovereign Enforcers." His eyes flashed with anger. "The fact that Braig is once again involved in the hardships of Kairi's family, especially this event, just pours salt on the wound. I know how this whole situation must be affecting Kairi. I swear! Can't fate just give my surrogate sister a break! Hasn't she gone through enough already!? It's just so maddening." He took a deep breath, staring at his hand. "And to top it all off, Pat's… violent behavior has been something of a ruse this whole time. She only acted that way because it was the only way she know to vent all that darkness so that she doesn't self-destruct on her loved ones."

"She was willing to sour her own reputation just to protect those she cares about."

Sasuke watched as his wife took out the last large glass shard and cast a healing spell. "We have all been so hard on her. Why couldn't she have just told us from the start? We could've helped her so much sooner. And now this whole experience has left a serious mark on her that will probably never go away, both physically and psychologically."

Rydia looked into her husband's eyes as she laid her hand on her heart. "I really feel bad for her. I can't imagine what she's going through right now, or how her life will turn out going forward."

"It'll be tough, I know that much… I just wish there was something I could do. And what if this happens again…? I just, don't know if we can do anything for her…"

* * *

Riku rubbed the bridge of his nose after he closed down the call. Of course, he had been excited to receive a phone call from Sora, but as soon as his friend started talking… well, he wasn't as happy anymore.

"Was that Sora?"

"Yes…"

Hara cocked her head as she studied her husband's face. "What's wrong? Is it… Hikari?"

"No, our little girl is fine. It's Patria." The man sighed. "Her darkness is worse than we thought…"

* * *

Sora sat in the back of the gummi ship, petting his daughter's hair as she leaned against him, sleeping. His heart ached. How long had she suffered in silence?

Silence…

No.

She'd been crying for help.

Silent and round-about ways.

When she turned down their help, claiming she was alright. Her acting out. She'd been asking for help the whole time… he just didn't notice.

His shoulders shook as tears began to trickle from his eyes. "I-I'm so sorry, Patria. I'm so sorry."

"You realized it too?" Kairi spoke softly, sitting beside him.

"We didn't even notice how scared she was and how much she wanted help… now it's almost too late."

"Almost." The princess of heart gently laid a hand on her daughter's face, brushing aside strands of hair in her face. "We can help her now." She studied her daughter's face. "She looks afraid…"

And indeed, she was.

In Patria's dreams, the mysterious figure raged…

* * *

 _"You foolish little brat! I would kill you if you weren't necessary to me."_

 _The figure held her in tendrils of darkness, squeezing her limbs tightly._

 _His hand came up, grabbing her chin in his hand. "You told them everything!"_

 _"I did!" Patria cried out, pushing past her fear. "You almost took control! I couldn't let that happen!" She sighed. "Finally, I told them. It feels good."_

 _The figure grabbed her by the hair, making her cry out. "No! You belong to me!" The darkness around him faded away to reveal a suit of Keyblade armor similar to that of a Samurai(2). "The darkness has tainted you. A constant reminder of me. And now… I will take your sleep, and I will take your sanity. You will not have restful sleep as long as I am here."_

 _"My parents have magic! It can stop you!"_

 _"No… it won't…" He laughed._

 _The dream began to fade away, but the laughter still rang in the air…_

* * *

"Patria, wake up."

Sora's soft voice cut through the dark laughter as the girl blinked. "Dad?"

"Hey, girlie. Sleep well?"

"No." She leaned against him, sighing. "He said he was going to take my sanity. He scares me…"

Sanity.

Sora dreaded the thought of his little girl losing herself like that. "I will do everything I can to stop him. I'll protect you, Patria." He wrapped his arms around her. "Starting with getting you help with your darkness. We're here."

Patria felt the ship settle to a stop, probably in the Disney Castle Gummi Hanger. If anyone could help her, it was her Uncle Riku. Forcing herself to stand up, she walked out of the ship with her dad. Hikari already ran off the ship with PJ and Max, the three of them standing before Riku, Donald, Goofy, and Mickey, chatting away. Her eyes glanced up, meeting Riku's.

She saw nothing but compassion and concern in them.

Riku patted his daughter's head with a soft smile. "Why don't you find Mom? She's inside with your brother." Immediately, he strode over toward the Kumos, smiling at Sora and Kairi. "Hey…"

"Hey, Riku."

"Sounds like you guys have had it rough lately." His eyes darted to Patria who stared at the ground. "Take some time to rest and think about your next move. I'll take it from here."

"Thank you, Riku."

Giving their daughter one last encouraging pat on the shoulder, the couple went to join the others. The group slowly meandering their way out of the hanger.

Until they were alone.

"Want to tell me what happened?"

Straight to the point.

"Well… I just… I got so angry I just lost it. Briana said.. And Angel had… I-I thought they'd killed my brother. So, I snapped. I attacked Angel. But then… that person, that thing, took over. I tried to fight back, but I couldn't. Dad and Mom brought me back."

Riku sighed. He'd worried about her darkness before, but this was something else.

It reminded him of Ansem.

"Let's go for a walk." Placing a hand gently on her shoulder, they left the hanger and went out through the castle gates. "Sora explained to me what he could. So, this thing, person, whatever, has been pumping you full of darkness for years. If that's the case, your mom and I should've noticed something."

The girl shook her head. "He said that he was able to block you two from sensing it. I'm not sure how, but he's very powerful."

"If he was that powerful, you would be fully under his control by now." He paused, taking her hands in his. He studied them for a moment. The darkness that stained her skin looked like that of a Heartless, and the red tips of her fingers gave him a similar impression. "He tried to take over, but couldn't, so he left you this. A reminder that he still has a hold on you. Tell me, has he contacted you yet?"

"Yes. He said he would take my sanity and not give me a peaceful sleep until I give into him."

Riku thought for a moment. "Wait, give into him?" He gasped. "Patria, when you lost control, what were you thinking? Like what was literally going through your mind?"

"That… I didn't care if the darkness consumed me, or if he took over."

Riku nodded slowly. "I get it. He can't take over you without your consent. He has to find a way to make you willingly give in. Taking away your sanity will make it easier for him." I'll ask Master Yen Sid, and Oukoku about ways to help you sleep and maybe prevent that from happening. When this is over, I suggest you go to Areth and work with him constantly to help keep your mind clear. Now, as for your darkness, Sora said that you use it in order to prevent yourself from losing control of it, correct?"

"Yes."

"Then that's what we'll work on." They'd taken a path down underground into the sewers. The only ones around now were the magic broomsticks, but these wore hardhats with little lights to allow them to see. Down a tunnel, the underground opened up into a large room full of old crates and barrels. "This is my personal training ground. Let's get started."

* * *

Minnie handed Kairi a cup of tea, her eyes filled with sorrow. "I'm so sorry all of this happened."

"Things haven't been easy for you two." Jiminy sighed.

Kairi nodded. "I know… ever since Jun's death it's like the universe wants to make life hard."

Sora looked at his own cup of tea. It's true that since their first child died, life had been harder. While they'd had ups too, nothing really stood out other than the birth of the twins as something fantastically great. "I wonder if it's because I'm Oukoku's heir or something. Or this whatever it is that is screwing with Patria, has been actively sabotaging our lives."

"I don't think so, Sora." Hara spoke softly, trying not to wake up the sleeping toddler in her arms. "When your first child died, that event shook your world. I'm not surprised that few things brightened it up. Of course, whenever Patria started getting this darkness inside her, then this outside force was working, but before that I think it was just the recovery from Jun's death. Now, Patria being targeted… this could be because of you or your lineage."

"That's not fair!" Hikari huffed, crossing her arms. "Patria never did anything to this jerk!"

"I know, dear. Minnie, do you think having her near the Cornerstone will do anything?"

"I don't know. It might be painful for her with how darkness has become part of her." The elderly mouse wrung her hands.

"At least Riku is helping her get some sort of control now. But we could at least try and put her near the Cornerstone."

"it's worth a try."

* * *

"Focus." Riku laid his hands on his niece's shoulders. "Try and center a small portion of darkness around the spell. It's hard at first, but it gets easier."

Patria's hand shook as the Fire spell begged to be loosed, the magic pulling at her mind to release it. She focused all her attention on that feeling. The pulling. She pictured the magic drawing some of the darkness out of her and them melding together. As she pictured this, the flames in her hand changed.

Orange to red.

Red to maroon.

Maroon to a deep purple.

"There you go!"

Patria let the spell free, the Dark Fire slamming into a box. She'd just… used darkness.

But used it right. Like Uncle Riku.

"I did it!"

"Good, now keep practicing. If you can learn to pull that power into every single magical attack you do, it should help lessen the burden darkness puts on you, and you shouldn't have to be so mean to people anymore." The two stood quietly for a while. "Tria, I don't understand why you didn't tell me. Your mom and dad sure, but I of all people would understand. If you had asked, I would've even kept it a secret from your parents until you were ready to tell them."

The red-head slumped down against a box. "I was going to when the worlds connected again, but then the whole Xehanort thing happened and I exploded on Maleficent. Then this freak saved us from death only to try and take me over. I was so scared… I didn't know what to do."

"Did Pith know?"

"Yes…"

Riku didn't say anything else. For a while, they kept up a soft silence until the king finally spoke. "Let's keep practicing."

* * *

Pith stood up as the cell door opened. Briana dragged Angel and threw her inside. The girl's wing dripped blood along the white feathers, marring the pristine parts.

"Just look at what your sister did." The princess tossed a potion at their feet, laughing as Pith lunged forward, catching the bottle before it shattered on the ground. She warped away as the cage slammed shut.

Pith handed the bottle to his friend, sitting beside her, letting her wing rest on his lap. "Braig showed me what happened. I'm sorry about what my sister did to you."

"I don't blame her… I wish I had a sibling that cared enough to lose it if I was in trouble. My brother would just kill me himself." The girl whimpered as the potion took effect, healing up her wing. "Even if I did die, I have no family to miss me."

Pith wiped some of the blood off her wing with a soft smile. "You do actually… a half-brother and a niece."

"Wait, what?"

"You didn't know… Xehanort had another son. Actually, you wouldn't know because Xehanort himself didn't know. But Areth, your half-brother, really would like you to come home and stay with him and his daughter. They want you to be part of their family. So, when this is all over, you have something to look forward to." Gently moving her wing to the side, he wrapped his arms around the girl, singing softly. " _No more talk of darkness, forget these wide-eyed fears. I'm here. Nothing can harm you. My word will warm and guide you. Let me be your freedom, let daylight dry your tears. I'm here, with you, beside you, to guard you and to guide you…_ "

The girl let her wings droop.

She had… family?

Family who wanted her?

Was it a trick… no. Pith wouldn't lie to her. The only one who wouldn't lie. Her only comfort in the world.

Closing her eyes, she whispered the next line, ignoring the romantic implications as best she could, her mind focused on the news, the hopeful news he brought. " _Say you love me every waking moment. Turn my head with talk of summertime. Say you need me with you now and always. Promise me that all you say is true. That's all I ask of you…_ "

" _Let me be your shelter, let me be your light. You're safe, no one will find you. Your fears are far behind you._ "

" _All I want is freedom, a world with no more night. And you, always beside me, to hold me and to hide me…_ "

Her words dissolved into sobs as the boy comfortingly patted her head.

* * *

"Tired?"

"Yes…" Patria sighed. "That was so hard."

Riku smiled, "Yeah, until you're used to harnessing darkness in that way, it's difficult. Just keep practicing and things will get easier. I'll tell your dad to let you train on the ship; he can even supervise you to make sure things are going well."

The girl nodded, staring at her red-stained fingers as she fiddled with them. "I really should've told you. Maybe then things wouldn't have gotten this bad."

"Maybe. Maybe not. We don't know. But what's done is done and we just have to deal with what we have. And now that this is out in the open, we can keep tabs on you and it." He stopped, grabbing the girl in a hug. "You're never alone, Patria. You have so many people who love you."

Patria felt tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. Uncle Riku, always so sincere. He never sugar-coated. He never held back. His words, always full of feeling, could touch any heart.

Even a dark and broken one like hers.

She buried her face in his shoulder. "Thank you, Uncle Riku."

"You're welcome."

The two parted, walking side-by-side to the castle. The girl's heart felt just a little lighter as they walked along the white pavement of the castle and into the massive throne room.

All the others waited on the other side.

"Daddy! Daddy!" Little Kuro called, reaching for his father with a wide smile.

"He woke up and was wondering where you went off to." Hara laughed, handing off the toddler to her husband. Her gaze shifted to Patria and changed. "Patria, we have an idea. It might be a long shot, and it honestly it might make things worse. We don't know."

"What is it?"

Kairi wrung her hands, her eyes full of fear for her child. "Hara suggested we take you to the Cornerstone of Light, but we don't know what that amount of light might do to you at once."

"I want to try."

No hesitation.

"Patria," her dad spoke barely above a whisper, "are you sure?"

"Yes. I have to try!"

Hara glanced over at Minnie who nodded. "Alright." Hara held out her hand toward the throne(3), the platform beneath it shifting and moving to the side.

Patria all but ran down the steps. As soon as her head passed underground, her head suddenly throbbed. She let out a scream before falling down the rest of the stairs.

"Tria!"

The girl, totally oblivious to her aching body, screamed as her heart seemed to tear in half.

"Get her out of here!"

She felt strong arms grab her and lift her from the ground. Her eyes, partially open, spotted the cornerstone shimmering. The light seemed to be reaching out to her. "W-wait… d-don't. I-I want it…!"

Her arms began to throb, pulsing with the frantic beating of her heart. She reached out toward the cornerstone, despite how much it hurt, hoping to feel some of its warmth.

Her fingers burned, the red beginning to glow slightly. Her eyes widened, but before she could pull her hand back, darkness burst from her hand, fizzling away in the light, but the darkness drew from Patria, thrashing out toward the source of light.

This takes so long to say, but it happened so fast, no one could move as the darkness slammed into the cornerstone. Cracks appeared across its smooth surface before the glowing sphere crumbled into glowing shards.

"Oh no!"

"I-I…" Patria gasped as her darkness dissolved away, "I didn't do that… I-I wanted the light. I didn't…" She shuddered, tears flowing down her face. "I didn't do this!"

" _But I did, and you helped me_."

The voice whispered in her mind, laughing.

So then… she did do this.

* * *

"Father, why keep them together? Look at them!" Briana glared at the security footage of Pith and Angel embracing.

"I agree," Xext huffed. "She's corrupted enough as it is."

Braig chuckled. "Don't you see, it's all part of the game, right Holly?"

His wife slid over next to him. "Of course. Let them hope. Let them be happy. And then tear it from them at the last moment!"

"Oh…" Braig suddenly stiffened, listening for a moment to the host in his head. "Well, well. Our benefactor just gave us a golden opportunity. The Cornerstone of Light, the protector if that stupid Disney Town, has been destroyed, by Patria no less."

"Oh really?"

"Want in, sweetie?"

Holly giggled. "Why I would love to." She took the whip from her hip, tightening it with a snap. "I would love a new kingdom to call my own."

* * *

 **So, hope you enjoy this cliffhanger before I vanish for a month!**

 **Deuces!**

 **Please review!**

* * *

Footnotes:

(1) This scene is courtesy of Yamichaos27!

(2) Think similar to the Shredder's armor in the 2003 TMNT.

(3) I'm going under the assumption that the queen is supposed to guard the cornerstone, and so Minnie passed on the power to Hara when she and Riku took over.


End file.
